Losing
by RedHatter
Summary: Boy is a girl living in a shithole with a crackwhore for a foster mother and a pimp that uses her to run drugs for him. Of course, the XMen show up to take her away, but there is much,much more than just a mutant girl behind those dead black eyes.
1. Boy

**Loosing**

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, blah, blah, blah.

A/N: Sam, thanks for telling me to put this up. Wish me luck! As for all you readers: REVIEW

**Chapter One **

The man walking down the alley coughed out a cloud of cigarette smoke and then took another drag off of it. I could smell it. It reminded me of her. The Witch. Always puffing on her cigarettes and sneering at me through the clouds of smoke. My anger threatened to break through my restraints but I redoubled my efforts to keep it at bay. Now wasn't the time to let that monster go. _Soon_. I told it. Just wait. I'll let you free, I promise. It growled impatiently at me but settled down, and I was able to focus on the man again.

The hooker walking next to him wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. Her heels made loud echoes off the walls. They approached, making more noise in those few seconds than I usually did in a month. Stupid humans. I leaned back into the wall and relaxed, allowing the shadows to envelop me and make me temporarily their own. I flitted from one shadow to the next, always keeping close enough to reach out and touch them, but never allowing them too see my black form.

Finally the man stopped at the end of the ally, just feet away from the dead end-and me. He jerked his head at the hooker and she wasted no time in letting him shove his tongue between her red lips. I came up behind him and stretched out the tiniest tendril of shadow right into the man's pocket and slipped out his wallet. After that I took a good portion of various bills in the hooker's boots, skirt, half-jacket, and tube top. Then I flitted back to the beginning of the alley way and returned to my normal self and started toward my current place of residence, as the social workers put it.

"Where's my money?!" She said as soon as I came through the door. I took out the wallet and most of the bills and threw it at her. She caught it greedily and went though everything while puffing away at her cigarette. "Good. Now get the hell out, I've got company coming." The witch glared at me with distaste. "Do you ever take off those disgusting rags?"

I opened the fridge and looked for something to eat. "Do you ever keep your clothes on for more than five minutes?" My tone was flat and dry. She didn't deserve to be shown emotion. She slammed the wallet on the coffee table and stood up, adjusting her short skirt over her thighs.

"Don't you talk to me that way you little shit!" She screamed through the smoke cloud. "Without me you wouldn't have a home, food, or a roof over your head! You owe me!" She took several quick drags off of her cigarette and breathed the smoke out of her nose like a bull from a cartoon. Finding nothing in the fridge, (as usual) I closed the door and turned around, wrinkling my nose at the smell of coke on her.

"You keep telling yourself that." I replied dully. "Maybe someday you'll stop being a crack whore and act like a real mother. Though I doubt it." She made a growling shrieking sound and charged at me. I didn't move and she fell through me onto the kitchen table. She stood up, tank top askew and skirt up higher than it should be. "I should have them take you away you little freak." She growled, fixing her clothes and hair.

"You wouldn't be so mouthy in one of those big white jackets!" The Witch stormed past me and scooped up the money, throwing it into her purse. "I'm gong to get more cigarettes. You'd better not be here when I get back." She slammed the door behind her and I heard her clunking away down the hall. I picked up the table and fixed it, then opened a window to let some of the smoke out. The monster snarled a warning at me. I rolled my eyes then jumped out of the window onto the fire escape, then onto the roof of the next shithole apartment building. I pulled off my black hoodie and torn jeans and stuffed them into a hole.

"Alright." I whispered. Then I let the monster go.

A/N: Short, I know. Sorry about that. Review and tell me what you think. I am open to criticism, compliments, and complaints. Please don't review just to say how much I suck. Tell me specifically what's wrong. I appreciate it!


	2. What you sensed was pure animal

Disclaimer: I dont own the x-men. (sighs)

A/N: Ok. Chapter two. I figured that there is no way that you can really tell me if you get it or not unless you know more. So I'm posting chapters two and three. Oh, sorry about the name mix-up twi.

**Chapter Two **

"Wake up you little shit!" I opened my eyes to see the Witch towering over me with a cigarette in her hand.

"What." I said, sitting up and pulling on my hoodie. "Did you run out of crack again?" Her answer was a sharp slap on my face.

"Get dressed. You're gonna do something for Daddy." She snarled. "And hurry up!" She slammed my door behind her. 'Daddy' was her pimp; a big black man with more ethics and morals than all of his whores put together. I wouldn't mind him so much if he could just stop getting me to join his team. I pulled on my ripped black jeans and strode out into the kitchen where D was. I refused to call him Daddy. It was just wrong, even if most of the idiots who came around here really did think that he was my father. I guess all black people looked alike when you were stoned or drunk out of your mind.

"There's my little errand boy!" D yelled at me. He took his hand off of Witch's behind and put both his hands on his crystal-topped cane.

"I'm a girl." I said flatly.

He laughed. "Not since you shaved your head you're not. You look like a boy, therefore you are a boy. Now, boy, I want you to take a couple of packs down to the docks and go to the Happy Fish. It's got a giant smiling fish on it so you cant miss it. Ask for a guy named Beezle." He tipped his hat at me then returned to fondling his whore. I slipped the packs of cocaine into my hoodie pocket and exited the shitty apartment.

The Happy Fish was a run down old bar run by a guy with no teeth and a fondness for little girls. It was the local rendezvous for druggies, pimps, hookers, and anyone else. I put my hood up and a bandana over my nose and mouth before entering. There's only so many humans I can deal with at a time, especially these ones. I allowed a skinny drunken man to stagger out the door and down the street before going in.

It was loud, smelly, and full of people, as usual. I approached the bar and got the attention of the bartender/owner. "Wha' choo want boy?" He yelled over the noise.

"I'm looking for Beezle." I said into his ear. He nodded and jerked his head at one of the sweaty, round-faced men wearing fake hair on their heads playing poker at a corner table. I waded through the people and stood behind him a little off to the side. It took a moment for one of them to notice me. When he did, he nudged Beezle and the sweaty man turned to face me.

"What." He snapped. A little bit of spittle flew from his lips and landed on the floor just inches short of my black sneakers. "Dog's had puppies." I replied in a monotone. Beezle stood up and headed toward a back room, as did several of the guys that he was playing with. I took the cocaine out of my pockets and tossed them onto the table as soon as the door was closed. One of the other players took out a knife and tested it, nodding enthusiastically.

"Good stuff, good stuff. Daddy send this?" He asked me.

"Yeah."

"Good, good. I knew he wouldn't screw me. Get outta here kid." He snapped. I obeyed, doing my best to avoid bumping into anyone on my way out. D would want to know that I made the delivery so I headed back there before heading to the library. The librarian eyed me with sharp eyes out of a wrinkled face over half-moon glasses as I came in. I ignored her. You'd think by now that she'd be used to my presence. I went straight to the fiction section and started to search for a book.

I paused a moment later, sensing someone behind me. I sniffed and listened intently. Male, clean, strong heartbeat very unlike the erratic ones that I usually heard. I also smelled metal and electricity. He spoke before I could turn around. "You should try The Great Gatsby. I find it to be a most interesting book." I turned around, my face a blank mask as always.

"Thanks but it's not my kind of book." He was an old bald man in a wheelchair with grey eyes. I inhaled his scent again. Yes, there it was. That one odd indescribable scent. He was a mutant. Like me. Immediately after that realization the monster strained at its bonds and growled. _Mine. Wont let it in_. It snarled. I let it go enough to do what it wanted.

He gave off no outward sign of surprise at his sudden inability to read my thoughts. I listened to his heart beat. No nervousness, no fear, no nothing. Who the hell was he? "Have you read it?" He asked calmly. I took a deep breath, reading other scents off of him. He had the scent of several others on him…more mutants. He mostly smelled like the city but I caught the scent of something else. I just couldn't place it.

"No. I don't want to." I inhaled one more time but there was nothing else to smell. So, a mutant who was around other mutants, was in a wheelchair, and was a mind reader.

"Alright." He said with a little smile. "But I'd still recommend it." He continued to smile at me and I opened up my senses, searching for any sign of hostility. There was none.

I decided to be blunt. "Do you need something?" He might of heard that I was a runner for D. An old man like that in a wheelchair might want something to take his mind off of his current situation. The monster settled down but stayed wary. He must have stopped trying to get into my head.

"Only your name." He said pleasantly. I frowned. "For what." "Well, since you wont let me read your thoughts than I'm afraid I must ask. I suppose one could say that it's good for me. I've gotten into the annoying habit of just reading thoughts rather than asking questions. I should stop that. Questions, after all, are the best ways to get answers. Unless you're a psychic…ah. I mustn't get into that argument." He went back to smiling pleasantly and reading the titles of the books around him. I debated whether he was completely off his rocker or actually did just want to know my name.

"I don't have one." I finally mumbled. He tipped his an ear my way. "Pardon?" "I don't have a name. I don't need one." I watched his reaction to this. It usually varied from pity to a clap on the shoulder for being smart, depending on the person. He nodded.

"I can understand that. Having no name means that you don't have an identity, which also means that no one can find you if you do not wish it." His smile faded to a thoughtful frown and he laced his fingers together on his lap. "How about this," He said after a few thoughtful minutes. "You tell me what you'd like me to call you, but it wont be your name, just a means to address you by." His smile returned. I stared into his eyes. The held none of the selfishness and hostility that I was used to. They were nice. They also held a sense of…oldness to them. I mulled over the possibility that he really did just want to have a conversation. I opened my mouth to say a name, but I was interrupted by a man wearing jeans and a black shirt with brown hair.

"Hey, when're we getting outta here? If she hasn't shown up by now then-" He cut off at the sight of me. I caught his scent and the monster went crazy. I had to take a few steps back to keep from springing. The monster furiously ripped at its restraints. How dare another animal enter my territory without asking permission?! He sensed my barely contained anger and shifted position, ready for a fight. I tensed and bent my knees slightly, a quiet growl escaping from my throat.

"Wolverine, would you be so kind as to bring the car around? It's almost time for lunch and I'd like to beat the traffic." The old man said lightly. The other animal, Wolverine, backed out of the aisle slowly, careful to never take his eyes off of me. The monster wanted to go after him but I beat at it until it stopped whining. "That was interesting." The old man commented. "I believe you were about to tell me what I could call you." The hint of a British accent in his voice made the statement seem like a question.

I licked my lips. "Boy." I finally said. "You can call me Boy." Again, I watched him closely. Any normal person would have pointed out that I was a girl, and 'boy' wasn't a name, but he didn't. Odd, this old man was. Very odd. He nodded at me then moved his hand to the control stick on the arm of the chair.

"Well, Boy, it was nice meeting you. I hope to run into you again sometime." He said lightly, turning to leave. I he was halfway out of the aisle before I stopped him.

"Hey! Wheels!" I barked. He turned, a half smile playing on his lips.

"Yes?"

"You never told me what your name was." I cursed myself silently. Damn curiosity. I didn't want to know his name. What use was it to me?

"Ah." He said, with a nod. "Well, since I do want you to find me, you may call me Charles. Charles Xavier." He turned and whirred off again. "Have a good day!" He called before he disappeared out of sight. I listened as he pushed the button for the door to open then headed down the ramp. I heard a woman's voice and the grunt of someone lifting something.

"So how did it go?" The woman said.

"Better than I'd hoped." The old man-Charles-replied. "She's very distant and wary of other people. I'm afraid Logan almost set her off merely by being there, though I believe that that has something to do with territory. Am I right?"

"Yeah." Wolverine said. Or was it Logan? Possibly both. One name was annoying enough, but two? Ugh.

"Where is she?" The woman asked.

"Still in the library, I assume. I couldn't read her mind, but I did get a sense of…something else. Something she keeps under control but it doesn't feel…right." Charles was settled in the car and the others went in.

"Animal." Wolverine said. "What you sensed what pure animal. Or beast. Or monster, depending on-" The door slammed and I was unable to hear the rest of his sentence clearly. I debated moving closer to the door but they were already driving away. I went back to finding a book.

No one was at the apartment when I got there and stripped off my clothes to throw in the wash so I cleaned up a little before hopping into the shower. The washer still wasn't done by the time I got out so I pulled on an old t-shirt and finished cleaning. I wasn't doing it for the Witch's sake, but for my own. The stink of the sex, booze, and drugs got so bad sometimes that it almost made me sick.

By the time everything was gone over with bleach and fabric spray, my clothes were clean and I put them into the dryer. I put other clothes into the washer. No one came back at all that night so I was able to leave my clothes at the apartment before letting the monster take over.

A/N: REVIEW PLEASE. (duh) Oh. and I'm getting a ferret! Yes, I know that getting a ferret has nothing to do with anything but I can't help it. I'm just so excited. (cha-cha's)


	3. Screaming meat So funny

Disclaimer: Just because this is annoying me, I'm not going to say that I dont own the X-Men. I don't care if they sue me.

A/N: I am such a chicken.

**Chapter Three**

Several quick knocks at the door woke me up the next day. I looked at the clock. It was nearing 3 in the afternoon. I put my clothes on and answered the door. Lo and behold, the old man wasn't lying. He smiled that little smile and nodded at me. "Glad to see you awake and refreshed!" He chirped. I resisted the urge to smack him and focused instead on the dark skinned, white haired lady beside him. She caught my eye and smiled. She was pretty.

"You must be Boy." She held out a hand. I recognized her voice as the one who was asking the old man questions yesterday. The monster once again went to the defense, a little less violently this time. "I'm Ororo Monroe, or Storm." I took her hand and shook it, noting how smooth her palms were. Not much of a working girl. She too, didn't have any sign of hostility to her but was wary. I recognized hers as one of the scents of the other mutants yesterday.

"How did you find me." I asked Charles.

"Well, while I was having lunch I ran into a rather portly lady who was talking to a friend about a child that she knew. Upon further investigation I found out that that certain child was you."

"Meaning you read her mind." I said with a frown.

He nodded. "Yes. I read her mind. The lady is your caseworker, am I right?" It was my turn to nod. I didn't really care that he was here but the fact that he followed me and had another mutant looking at me like a doctor would a patient who she knew was sick struck a warning chord. "May we come in?" Charles asked me. I stepped aside.

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"Why." I asked dully. "What would be the point of that." The two of them had finished explaining to me that they came from a 'school for the gifted' or mutants, and wanted me to come with them.

"Well," Ororo said. "you don't have to stay if you don't want to. We'd just like you to check it out for a few days."

"If you don't like it then by all means, you can return here to your foster mother." Charles sipped up the rest of his tea and set it down. Lucky for him I actually drank tea so I kept a box hidden between my mattress on the floor and the wall in my closet of a room. Standing up, I took their empty cups and washed them, drying them and putting them away when they were clean. Neither one of them said a word. They were done persuading. It was my choice now. I shook my head and ran my hand over the light blackish brown fuzz that covered it.

"No." I finally said. "I appreciate the offer but I have to decline." My reasoning was simple: I didn't do people, or crowds, or bonding or whatever shit they did at that school. I didn't care. I had no desire to join any community-mutant or not. Storm stood up and Xavier followed her gravely to the door. She turned and handed me a piece of paper.

"Alright. We respect your decision, but if you ever feel the need to learn more about us, then call me." She gave me one last smile before exiting. Xavier met my eyes one last, unreadable time, then followed her. I shut the door behind them and took a load out of the washer and put it in the dryer. After that I went to sleep.

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Wolverine met Xavier and Storm outside the dumpy apartment building. He took a puff off of his cigar then put it out. "So?"

"So what?" Storm replied, helping Xavier into the car.

"So where's the girl?" He asked, helping her help him.

"Her name is Boy, and she rather graciously declined our offer." Said Xavier matter-of-factly. "But Logan, I want you to stay behind. Storm will give you enough money to get a motel room. Keep an eye on her." Logan set his jaw and shook his head.

"No. You saw how she was at the library. If she finds out that I'm following her-and she will-then she'll tear me to shreds." The two of them successfully got their 'boss' so to speak in the car then Storm got in behind the wheel. He had come on his motorcycle.

"So?" She said, starting the car and leaning out the window with a mocking smile "You can just…pull yourself together again."

"That's not funny." Logan growled. Storm laughed and put the car in drive.

"See you later Humpty Dumpty." He resisted the urge to flip them off.

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I awoke just as the sun was going down and jumped out the window to my little hiding spot. I took off my clothes again and let myself go._ Free_. The monster shook itself and sniffed around. Finding nothing of real interest, it loped off across the rooftops in search of a high hooker traffic area. _Screaming meat. Ha. Always scream. So funny._

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Logan watched with interest as the girl stripped off her clothes to reveal an unhealthily skinny body. She closed her eyes, then her body began to morph. Her spine contracted and pushed upwards while her face pushed outwards and her legs rippled like there were spiders crawling under her skin. It took less than ten seconds for a hairy, wolf-like monster to replace that skinny brown form.

From his vantage point he could see that she wasn't just a wolf, but a cat too. Some sort of odd mix with three, two-jointed toes in front of each paw that gave way to wickedly pointed black claws. The other two 'fingers' came out of the back of the foot. He looked even closer and noted with disgust that he could see some human features in her muscles along with the wolf/cat hybrid stuff. And really, really big. She would have topped a 6 foot man by at least two feet, and she had completely black eyes, except for crimson irises.

Logan shifted to a new position as the wind changed direction and found himself admiring those powerful, rippling muscles and her black teeth, sharpened so fine that they could probably slice through a metal door with no problem. He held the camera up a little higher and zoomed in a little bit. If Xavier wanted him to watch her, then he could watch too.

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The hooker screamed and tried to run. The monster resisted the urge to laugh and instead swiped at her with a tendril of shadow. She toppled sideways, her hands doing a bad job of covering up the newly split skin. It approached her and licked her face and neck, tasting the fear and sweat. Its senses sent off a warning. It hurriedly snapped her neck and ate her before leaping up the next wall and disappearing out of sight among the shadows.

Logan dropped down just as it left and examined the area where the hooker had been swallowed. It was bare. He'd watched its mouth turn into a gaping hole and swallow her, just like a snake.

A/N: Ok (-wipes forehead-) we got through that ok. Please, I repeat, REVIEW


	4. Goodbye, D

Disclaimer: I don't own the x-men -is now annoyed-

A/N: Well so far I've gotten good reviews…even if there aren't to many. But, yeah, REVIEW (-takes out waffle shield and pop tart sword-) or I will stab you with my breakfasty goodness!

**Chapter Four**

"You going to give me that or am I going to have to take it from you?" D held out his hand for the watch. I shook my head.

"You don't have to take it from me and I'm not going to give it to you. It's mine." I said emotionlessly. He stepped forward and wiggled his fingers.

"It's not yours. You and I know damn well that you stole it, and now I want it. So give me the watch, Boy." I put the watch in my hoodie pocket then spread my arms wide, waiting for him to make the next move. He couldn't hurt me no matter how much he tried. He put both his hands on his cane and gave me an intimidating glare. Or what he thought was intimidating.

"I'm not one of your whores, D. You don't own me, you can't control me, and you sure as hell don't have any power to take what's mine."

"Boy, I should knock you right out that window!" He went to grab me but caught only air. I knocked on the open door to get his attention and he whirled around, confused.

"You go ahead and do that, but I've got to go get groceries. I'll be back later." I shut the door on his astonished face.

Humans.

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I got over a dozen suspicious stares as I went though the checkout with a cart full of groceries and paid for them in cash. The manager of the store stood not far away pretending to greet customers but I knew better. He was watching me. I thanked the cashier and took the groceries outside where the driver of the cab I called helped me load them in the backseat.

The cab driver surprised me by helping me take the food up to the apartment. I paid him extra as a thank you. No one was there to get in my way while I put everything away and cleaned up again. I had no doubt that D would come back to 'teach me a lesson' about disobeying him. It would most likely end up the other way around. I wouldn't kill him if it wasn't necessary, but he had to learn that leaving me alone would be beneficial to his health.

A knock on the door brought me out of my imagination. I answered it. It was that guy, Wolverine. He had his hand in his pockets and I could tell was trying to look as non-threatening as possible. The monster growled but refrained from trying to start anything. We watched each other for a moment then he cleared his throat. "Uh, hi. I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Logan." In all appearances he seemed to be pretty relaxed but I knew better. His heart rate had gone up and he was tensed.

"Boy." I said, holding out a hand. Surprised, he took it. I stepped aside and he walked in. "You're with the old man and the white haired woman." It wasn't a question. He nodded anyway.

"Yeah. To be honest, they made me stay here to keep an eye on you."

"I know. Perhaps you should have done a better job in telling them why that wouldn't be a good idea." I let the monster seep through a little, letting my eyes change and my teeth and claws grow.

"They would have made me stay anyway." He said, taking me in. He unsheathed his claws. "I saw you last night when you transformed. You ate a hooker."

"No, I didn't. The monster did. I was sleeping." Neither of us moved.

"So, what, as soon as you go to sleep that thing inside you takes over?"

"Yes."

"Does it have to eat people?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"You have to understand that this body is only one half of what I am. The monster is the other half. When I was younger the two of us were constantly fighting for control over the other. We came up with a solution: I let it out when I sleep, and it doesn't put up much of a fight during the day. Sometimes the both of us sleep."

"What does eating people have to do with that?"

I shrugged. "I tolerate it eating humans and it tolerates me eating human food."

"Have you ever eaten another mutant?"

"I haven't, no." I relaxed to my normal self. He frowned and sheathed his claws.

"So you really are two different things."

"Yes, we are. Two halves of a whole that coexist mutually." I gestured for him to sit down. "Coffee?"

"Sure."

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Logan set his coffee on the table and leaned back. The girl across from him watched him with dark, unfathomable eyes. Not once had she betrayed any emotion since he'd been there. Her tone stayed flat and everything said was matter-of-fact. It let him to believe that the human side of her had lost the fight a while ago. This was just a shadow of what she was. "So have you ever tried joining with it?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Neither of us is willing to give up what we have without the other."

"Oh. Ok…can I ask you something?"

"You just did but yes." She looked completely serious so he had no idea if that was an attempt at humor or not. He smiled anyway.

"Why don't you want to go to the school? I guarantee there's someone there who knows what you're going though."

"You and your companions sound like military recruiters. It wouldn't be wise to put me in closed quarters with a large crowd of people, mutant or not. It still has to eat, and I'm not about to go back to fighting for control all the time for the sake of an education." She took his cup, washed it, and put it away.

"What if you don't have to be around people? The place is huge and they're aren't so many of us that we fill every corner. I can tell you from experience that there are a lot of places to be alone."

"That's not the point, Logan." She turned to face him then stepped sideways. Logan blinked. In her place was…another her. The second her stepped forward then sideways to reveal another copy. Then that one did the same until there were four of them. The original came forward and said: "You know what to do. Go." The three of them walked past Logan and disappeared through the door.

"What the hell?" He said.

"I had some more things to do."

"So you can make copies of yourself? Are they real?" He sat up straighter and leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. She shook her head.

"Shadows. You can tell by the eyes; theirs have a speck of brown in them. Mine don't."

"So you can just double yourself? What if something happens to one of them?"

"Shadows can't die or get hurt. They disperse and come back to me. Do you want to see what else I can do?" She asked. Logan suddenly felt wary but nodded anyway. She disappeared. He looked around. Did she turn invisible?

"Where'd you go?" He called.

"I'm here." Her voice came from all around the apartment. "One of the first things that I found out that I could do was join the shadows and go wherever I want. I've flown with planes and birds, sped along railways with trains, and ridden downtown with buses. I can go anywhere and follow anything." She appeared beside him on the couch. He leapt up and crossed to the other side of the coffee table. "My senses are heightened to the point where it almost hurts."

"I know what you mean." Logan fought to relax. He wondered what she was trying to do. He couldn't read her expression or voice because she showed no emotion, her heartbeat never changed and she breathed calmly at all times. He couldn't read her at all. "What else can you do?" She stood up and he was suddenly looking at himself.

"Shadows can be anything and everything." He heard himself say. His image melted away to the girl in the black hoodie and jeans again. "Without the monster my senses wouldn't be as sharp, and without me the monster wouldn't be able to hide itself. It may not sound like much but those needs are what keeps us stuck together."

"Like conjoined twins." Logan muttered.

"That about sums it up, yes." He studied her closely, trying to decide whether talking to her at all was a lost cause or not.

"Why don't you show any emotion?" He finally asked.

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?"

"This isn't the body that I was born with. It's just one that I made after my first one's neck was snapped by my first foster father. I do feel, but I wasn't able to convey that when I made this one."

"So you've basically inhabited a porcelain doll."

"Basically."

"And you do feel emotion, you just can't show it."

"Yup."

"Wow. That's gotta get annoying."

"It does."

"So you can't smile or anything?"

"I can, but most prefer it if I don't."

"Why?" Said Logan with raised eyebrows. She smiled, but her eyes remained cold and empty. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Ok. Point taken. Can you laugh?" She stopped smiling.

"Yes."

"Can you cry?"

"No."

"Have you tried?"

"Yes." They both fell silent. She got up off the couch and went to open the window. He tried to catch her scent when she walked by but only smelled her clothes and the scents of everything around her. She didn't have one of her own. He realized, that, despite the fact that it was really weird, it made sense. Shadows didn't have scents. The world became un-muted when she opened the window. They were both overwhelmed with sound for a brief moment before they blocked it out. Logan watched her lean on the windowsill and inhale. He noticed that she was like him; she cold be any age, though she looked no older than nineteen, but that could be wrong. In a different light she looked only fifteen.

"How old are you?" He asked her quietly. To his surprise, she shrugged.

"I don't know. I was five when I was killed but I had no sense of time when I was making this body. Ten years could have passed, or a couple of seconds."

"Have you tried looking up your death?" Logan couldn't believe he just said that. "If it was reported than you can check the archives. You can't tell me that you didn't think of that."

She shrugged. "I had, yes."

"So what stopped you?"

"I asked a cop about it instead. I still wasn't used to this body and they thought that I did it and was just being a cocky bastard and taunting them. They had no way to prove it and couldn't hold me, but they put me in a foster home. I jumped from home to home until I came here. That's when the Witch found me and decided to use me for some money."

"The Witch?" He raised an eyebrow. The name sounded more like it came from a little kid rather then a teenage girl.

"Yes. That's my name for the woman who adopted me."

"Why?"

"Because that's what she is. She prides herself on using me and making my life hell."

"Why don't you leave?"

"Because I know that I could kill her and her pimp and be done with it whenever I feel like it."

"She's a hooker?"

"Among other things." A door slammed and a high pitched giggle floated up through the window. "Speaking of the Devil." She muttered.

"Is it her?"

"Yes. And D."

"D's her pimp?"

"Yes. They call him Daddy but there's no way in hell that that's gonna happen.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"No." They listened to the screeching and clacking of the elevator as it came up then dinged wearily when it stopped at their floor. A load of people got off, headed straight for the apartment. "Sit at the table." She told Logan. He obeyed. She remained leaning up against the counter. The door burst open and three women came tumbling through, ironically enough there was a blonde, brunette and a red head. They were followed by a big black man who shut the door calmly behind him. The red head and brunette stumbled out of sight to the bathroom while the blonde sat the black man down before turning. It took her a moment to notice the two of them. She stumbled into Boy who pushed her away.

"Hey you little shit." The blonde slurred. "Who the fuck is that?"

"My new friend." She said, glancing at him. He stood up and went to stand next to her. "He's decided to take me away."

"Woah, woah." D stood up and came over. "He's gonna what?"

"You heard me." Boy said. Logan noticed that she hadn't blinked since they came in. "I'm leaving. With him."

"Oh really?" The blonde scoffed. "Just where you gonna go huh?" She poked her with a red-nailed finger. "They'll find you and bring you back."

"No, they wont." Logan said lightly. She turned her alcohol clouded eyes on him.

"I'll call the cops on you." She snarled. "I'll put the both of you in fucking jail!" She screeched the last bit.

D took her by the shoulders and pushed he towards the bathroom. "Go see what the other two are up to." He told her. She flicked her hair and obeyed. D crossed his large arms and studied the two of them. "So how did you two meet?" He asked.

"In the library." Boy replied.

"When?"

"A couple of days ago." She stuck her hands into her hoodie pocket and studied him while he studied her.

"Hey, dude, do you always pick up young girls in the library?" He said to Logan without breaking eye contact.

"No." Answered Logan in a slightly less light voice. "I'm a teacher at a school for kids like her. We got to talking and I suggested that she come check it out."

"Sounds like a nice story." D switched his gaze to him. "But it's not gonna happen. You see, this kid is pretty useful to us and I'm not about to let her go for some school."

"You have no choice, D." Said Boy flatly. "I've told you a ton of times, you don't own me. I did what I did for you because I had nothing better to do, and now I do, so you can find another runner." D threw his head back and laughed throatily.

"Oh, right, like I'm just gonna let you go after all that you've seen and heard." He went to grab her but Logan caught his wrist. They stared at each other. "Man, I suggest that you get out right now and don't ever let me see you around here again." D said threateningly. Logan released his wrist and went to say something but was stopped by Boy.

"I'll meet you downstairs." She told him.

"Are you sure?" He found himself looking directly into her eyes. It irked him to no end that there was nothing there.

"You and I both know that I'm not in any danger." Was her reply. He shrugged, brushed past D and exited the apartment.

"Not in any danger?" D snorted. "Boy, you're always in danger around me." Boy turned her back on him and headed to her room. He followed her and watched her gather the few things that she had into beaten up duffel bag. She went to move past him out of the room but he wouldn't get out of the way. "You're not leaving." He growled. She locked eyes with him, and smiled. The left side of his face twitched.

"Goodbye, D." She said, walking through him. He just stood there, not turning around. She went out the window and landed in front of Logan, startling him. He put his cigar out and got on his motorcycle. She got on behind him.

"Ready?" He asked her.

"Yes."

A/N: Kind of a long chapter here. I'm posting in two's so bear with me. Oh, Jinx, my ferret's name is Copper. I'm going to get her tomorrow. Wish me luck!

A/N#2: I HATE PROOFREADING!

REVIEW!


	5. Stay

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men. (grrrr)

A/N: So yeah. Ch. 5. I'm going on a posting spree so 6-8 will be up in a bit. Oh, and I forgot to mention that If you readers have suggestions on what I should name the chapters, by all means, tell me. I tried to think of some but I came up blank. I'd appreciate it! Enjoy.

**Chapter Five**

I set Logan down carefully. Halfway through Washington I'd gotten tired of going slow so I argued with him until he let me turn him and the motorcycle into shadow and travel that way. He blinked several times and leaned on his bike. "That is the weirdest feeling I've ever felt in my life." He mumbled. I reformed next to him and we walked into the car garage together. A guy wearing red-tinted sunglasses was kneeling next to a flashy looking sports car surrounded by kids that varied in age and appearance. I put my hood up. They guy in the sunglasses stood up at the sight of us and the kids peered around him curiously.

"Logan." He said. Logan nodded at him. "Who's this?"

"This is Boy." Said Logan with a yawn. "Where's Xavier?" The students started to whisper among themselves. I heard them quite clearly.

"Boy? What kind of name is that?"

"What do you think he can do?"

"Looks like some sort of goth freak. Look at those jeans…"

I blocked them out and shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket where I fingered the watch. "He's in his office." The guy said after a moment. Logan parked his bike and we went to leave. "Hey." The guy said to me. I stopped and turned to face him. "I'm Scott by the way. Welcome to Xavier's school." I nodded at him then we turned and headed into an elevator that stopped several floors up.

Logan led the way at a brisk pace though several halls until we ended up in front of a door, which he opened then stepped aside for me to go ahead. I did so warily, sniffing and listening. The old man was in front of his desk with a book in his hand reading aloud to more students who were sitting around him in a u-shape. It was _The Great Gatsby_. He stopped reading and looked at us. "Hello Logan, Boy."

"Hey." Logan said. I just nodded again. The monster, who had been quiet our entire trip, reared up again to protect my thoughts.

"Class, I'd like you to read chapter 4 and take notes. We'll be discussing it tomorrow. You may go." Xavier said. We stepped aside to let them pile out, avoiding their curious looks and even more whispers. He put a tasseled bookmark in the book and set it behind him on his desk. "So, Boy, what made you change your mind?"

"I didn't. I'm only here to see what you've got going on. Then I'm leaving." I put my hood down, running my hand over the fuzz on my head. It was starting to get long. I would have to shave it again. Xavier nodded and wheeled over behind his desk.

"Fair enough." He said. "I'll see if we have any roommate openings-"

"No." I cut him off.

"Pardon?"

"No roommates. No people."

"Alright. I'll see about vacancies then. I know we have some…" He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "Ah. Yes. We have one on this very floor." I turned toward the door when I heard footsteps coming toward the door. A few moments later Logan did too, then Storm came in.

"Storm! So nice to see you today." Logan said mockingly to her. She smiled.

"Hello professor. Hi Logan."

"Hey." Logan replied. His heartbeat increased slightly. I raised an eyebrow then quickly lowered again.

"Hi Boy. I'm glad you decided to join us."

"I didn't." She blinked at my abruptness but let it pass.

"Alright then. Well, I'll show you to your room anyway." She motioned for me to follow her.

"Bye." I said to Logan. He bobbed his head.

"See ya."

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My room was nicely furnished with a squishy rug and dark red walls and a giant bed. Storm left me to 'get settled' and shut the door behind her. The first thing I did was check to see if there was a kitchen. There wasn't. Damn. Other than that I liked it…maybe I would stay for a little longer. I stood in front of the huge window that overlooked the miles of forest behind the mansion and just stared. Forest. Very, very big forest. There were animals there. The monster stirred and took in the view through my eyes. It didn't necessarily have to eat humans. Animals could serve its appetite just as well.

_Stay_. It told me. I blinked.

_Stay?_ It had been years since it communicated with me directly and that was only to tell me that it would eat away at my soul slowly until there was nothing of me left. _Why? _I countered. _Why should we? This place is full of people, some of which won't want_ _to leave us alone. _It growled at me. I growled back.

_You stupid child! _It snarled. _Why don't you just listen?! _I sighed.

_Fine. I'm listening_.

_Stay_. It told me firmly. _Just stay here_. I was annoyed that it didn't tell me why but I decided to let it go. It's not like I had anywhere else to go, and I was sure as hell not going to live in a cave again. I toured the room again until I discovered a washer and dryer in a little room off the bathroom. Grinning, I stripped off my clothes and shoved them in the washer. I needed a shower anyway. Then I would take a nap.

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"Ok, now just follow the light…" Storm moved the tiny beam back and forth and I did as she told me. She shut it off and smiled. "Ok, you're done that part. Now I need you to lay down and hold completely still, ok?"

"Ok." I said, laying down. I was having and MRI. I'd never had and MRI before. It was odd. As the bed thingy started to move inside the giant tunnel, I listened to the sound of the electricity and machinery working. Inside, I kept my eyes open and watched the thing flash and take pictures of my insides. The problem was, I didn't know if I had insides. This body wasn't real, wasn't human. It was condensed shadow and a few other things that I'd rather not mention.

It was over within a few minutes then I was able to put my clothes back on. Storm left while I was getting dressed, probably to see the results and go over them with Xavier and whoever else was there to see them. I started to hum. Well, not hum, exactly. It was more like an eerie howl thing that the monster did sometimes when it was waiting for me to go to sleep. I stopped humming. It sang me to sleep?

Yes, that's exactly what it did. I'd never actually dwelled on it before. _Hey. _I said to it. It ignored me. _Why do you do that?_ It didn't answer. _Hellooooooooo. _I called one last time. It continued to ignore me, even when I swore at it. I ran my hand over my head again, then dropped it to my side. It was time to shave again. I turned to shadow then stepped away, making a double of myself. "I'll find the clippers and you find a barber's cape. Ok?" I told her. She nodded and we headed out.

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Someone knocked on my door just as we were finishing up. I yelled for them to come in. It was someone that I didn't know. I was facing a mirror so I saw him before he saw me. He was blue. Completely and totally blue.

Cool.

His scent was a unique mixture of himself and the vague smell of smoke.

"Hallo." He said in a slightly German accent. Well, it might have been German. I was no language expert. "I am the Nightcrawler. Or Kurt." He bobbed his head. My double finished the last of it and shut the clippers off. I took off my the cape and set it down on the chair, dusting myself off. She started to clean up but I absorbed her before she could even start. He seemed startled when I looked at him again.

"Hi." I said. He smiled and nodded again.

"Your name is Boy?"

"Yes."

"Oh. I haven't been around people that much, but, forgive me for saying that 'Boy' is a strange name."

"It is, but it's not my name so I don't really mind."

"But you just said-"

"Boy is just something that people can call me in place of my name-which will remain anonymous. So what did they send you here for, Nightcrawler or Kurt?" He didn't say anything. He was to busy staring at the hair that was disappearing through the floor. His yellow eyes seemed fascinated by it. He all but leapt back when the cape and clippers vanished; and odd reaction, considering he was in a mutant school and should be used to things like that. He must be new.

"Is that what you can do?" He asked me, still staring at the now empty chair. "Make things disappear?"

"Among other things."

"Ororo tells me that you are a shadow who can do many things. She also says that there's something inside you…like a completely other person."

"Ororo is right. Are you going to tell me what you're here for?" I said. He blinked, as if suddenly remembering. Maybe he did.

"Ah, Professor Xavier would like to see you in his office."

"I'll bet he would." I mumbled. Great, I'd been here for a few hours and already I was being summoned like one of his students. "Tell him that I have something to take care of, and that I'll see him when I can." Kurt blinked several times, probably unused to someone outright rejecting a 'summons' from his boss.

"Ah. Ok. I will tell him. Goodbye, Boy."

"Bye." He disappeared in a puff of bluish smoke with a crack. I walked over and examined it. It was actual smoke, like if something was burning. Huh. Odd. Then again, he was a mutant. Of course it was odd. I took off my clothes and positioned myself by the open window, then went to sleep.

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Several of the students ducked and screamed in fear and/or surprise when a large, dark shape flew from one of the top floors in the mansion and disappeared into the forest. Logan shook his head then called his student's attention again.

A/N: Love the lines man. Love the lines. And review of course.


	6. Tell me that's not human

Disclaimer: You know what? I'm going to stop w/ the disclaimers. I'm sure that after five chapters you get that I dont own the X-Men.

A/N: Uh...yeah.

**Chapter Six**

"Logan. Logan!" Logan woke up to the sight of Rogue's pale face above him.

"What?" He slurred

"There's weird noises coming from the kitchen." She whispered. He made out the outline of Kitty behind her.

"So go see what it is." He mumbled, already falling back to sleep.

"We can't. It's completely dark in there. No one can see anything."

"So turn the damn light on! It's just probably someone getting a snack or something."

"Logan, please. Just come with us. You can see better in the dark than we can." Kitty pleaded. He groaned but got up. "You sleep in your jeans?" She said. He ignored her. The three of them headed downstairs.

"Why didn't you wake up Bobby?" He muttered after a moment.

"He's…uh, in a really deep sleep." Rogue said, cutting Kitty off. Logan snorted. Meaning he probably got drunk or something and passed out. They made it downstairs and padded quietly to the kitchen, Rogue behind Logan and Kitty behind her. Logan motioned for them to stay back and then went up as far as the doorframe. The sounds that were coming from it were sounds of someone…or something moving around, but he could be sure what. It was too dark in there for even him to see.

He walked in as far as the wall then switched the light on. Rogue and Kitty gasped. It was Boy. And she wasn't in her usual form. Instead, that monster thing she turned into was sitting on the counter munching on an unidentifiable piece of meat and bone. It flattened it's ears and looked at him with a growl. "What are you doing here?" Logan said. It just growled again. He eyed the meat that it had momentarily stopped mutilating. "Tell me that's not human."

_"Do you think that it is?" _The monster rasped. Logan almost yelped. It could talk? What the hell? _"I don't always need to eat human's to satisfy my hunger."_ It's voice was deep and rasping, like someone was rubbing sandpaper on chalkboard and you were listening to it through a closed door.

"So you're what comes out when she sleeps then?" Logan asked, trying not to look so tense. If he angered this thing then he would be in for a very long and painful death-and he had no idea if his body would be able to pull itself together again.

_"I am." _It went back to eating.

"Uh, ok. We'll just leave you alone then." Loan edged toward the door and went to slowly turn the light off.

_"Logan." _He stopped in his tracks. For some reason having this thing say and know his name put him even more on edge. He swallowed.

"Yeah?"

_"I was listening when you suggested that the girl and I combine to be one mind, instead of two." _It tore off a piece of the meat, splattering blood across the counter. Logan's stomach growled. The creature on the counter seemed suddenly amused.

"Ok?" He replied.

_"It was a good suggestion." _

"Thanks." He turned to leave again but stopped, a question suddenly popping up in his mind. "Uh, can I ask you a question?" He asked it. Once again, it seemed amused.

_"You already did, but yes."_ It swallowed another strip and licked the majority of the blood off of its muzzle. Huh. Boy had said the same thing. It made him wonder if they really were as separate as she said.

"What's your name? Or her name…uh, not that it's any of my business. I was just wondering."

_"As annoyingly paranoid as the girl may be, I do agree with her policy on names. If she chooses to reveal it-which I doubt that she will-then you will find out. But only then. As for me, she calls me the monster. I have no name." _

"Oh." Logan swallowed again. "So you don't want me to call you anything?" It went back to feeding. It took so long to answer that he started to wonder if it was going to by the time that it did.

_"Your friends and the students here give themselves nicknames that relate with what they can do, correct?" _

"Most of them, yes."

_"Then I suggest you ask the girl. Names are no concern of mine. I do not need one, but if she feels that I do, she will give me one anyway." _

"Oh. Ok." Once again, he went to leave, but stopped, another question burning in his mind. The monster, thankfully, seemed more amused than annoyed.

_"You have another question." _

"Yes."

_"Ask it, then leave me in peace." _

"I will. How old are you two?"

_"The girl didn't tell you?" _

"She said that she didn't know."

_"Hmm…maybe I should have paid closer attention to her mind when she remade her body…she's eighteen, she'll be ninteen in February…though I believe that she thinks that she is younger. I must look in to that." _

"Thanks." This time Logan did shut the light off and leave the room. Kitty stared at him with wide eyes while Rogue tried to question him. He downright refused to answer and shook them off by telling them that if they didn't leave him alone then he'd anesthetize them for two weeks. They shut up after that, neither of them doubting that was bluffing. He sent them to bed then crawled back in himself. So she was the same age as Bobby. That thing inside her was a lot more civilized than she made it out to be.

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The next day found me sprawled out on a bloody kitchen counter with a splinter of a bone in my mouth. I spat it out and rolled over, coating myself with more blood. I slid off the counter and looked around. I was in some sort of kitchen. I grabbed the splinter of bone than flitted back to my room, straight into the shower.

Usually the monster put me in bed or something like that, not in the last place that it ate. A bunch of noise drew me to the hallway after I had gotten dressed. I opened the door to find a group of students standing near a boy with inhumanly large ears who was crouched at the top of the stairs, listening to something. A girl with short black hair wearing wind pants and a t-shirt had her eyes closed and was speaking rapidly to the group. I went up to a taller kid with ice blue eyes and spiked blonde hair.

"What's going on?" I asked him. He looked at me, startled.

"Uh, a student's gone missing." My heart went cold. _Damn you! _I screamed mentally at the monster. It didn't reply.

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Logan paced back and forth, glancing now and again at the puddle of blood on the floor. It had been identified as a student's. Every one of them was thinking the same thing. "Are you positive that she's what did it?" Storm asked him for the millionth time.

"Yes!" He snapped. "And it wasn't her, it was that…thing. I already told you, it was eating something when I saw it."

"But you said so yourself that it said that it didn't need to eat people." Kurt pointed out.

"That's true, yes." Said Xavier. "But, it never said that what it was eating wasn't a person. Logan, go talk to her, see if she remembers anything."

"Why should I do it?!"

"Do we really have to go through this again?" Scott exclaimed. "You already know why! Why can't you just do it?" Logan stopped his pacing. "If you're so hell bent on it, jackass, then why don't you do it?" He grabbed his jacket off of the railing and put it on.

"Where are you going?" Storm said.

"Out."

"Logan, we need you to-"

"Not my problem." He barked before he went out the door.

She scowled and went to go after him but Xavier stopped her.

"All of you, just go back to whatever you were doing. I'll deal with this." He told them, waving away their protests with a hand. "And that goes for all of you at the top of the stairs too." He said a little louder. He couldn't help but laugh a little when he heard them all scatter back to their rooms.

Meanwhile, outside in the garden maze, Logan was leaning cross-armed against a statue and watching Boy, who was hovering cross legged above a patch of irises. She had gone completely shadow. He had already confronted her about the missing kid and was waiting for her to reply.

"I don't know." She finally said.

"What do you mean, you don't know? Did that thing kill the kid or not?"

"I just said that I didn't know, Logan." Her emotionless tone was starting to get on his nerves. "We're of two different minds. I can't just tell what it does when it has control."

"Try." He growled. She sighed and opened her eyes, regarding him with red irises, the only part of her body that wasn't completely black.

"Do you realize what you're asking me to do? If I pry to deeply it'll upset the balance-"

"So don't pry to deeply! Just see if it killed that kid or not!" He lit a cigar and puffed on it with annoyance. She closed her eyes again. He briefly wondered why she was hovering over an iris patch but pushed the thought away. That really didn't matter now. He waited several minutes for her to finally answer him.

"It didn't do it." She said simply.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I may be able to help you find her though." She offered. Logan shook his head.

"Xavier will have it covered. If she's not dead then we might need you to come with us to get her."

"Ok."

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It turned out that she was alive, and had run away to visit her family. The blood was from her giving herself a concussion when she fell down the stairs in the dark. She'd managed to make it to her family's, but they had sent her to the hospital and wouldn't see her.

_Typical. _Logan thought as he carried her out of the hospital.

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A/N: So yeah. Logan's first meeting with the monster. I'm thinking about putting song names for chapters. Just a thought.


	7. You’re failing

Disclaimer: BLAH

A/N: This is my longest chapter yet, I think.

**Chapter Seven**

I decided to make a habit out of floating around in the garden as a full shadow. It was a good way to be alone and do something. Staying in that particular form gave me an indescribable feeling that I had long since become addicted to.

I was relaxing above a fountain when a girl that I didn't know found me. I didn't feel like blending in completely so my outline was still visible. She had dark blue hair that fell down her back in waves and smelled like water. She stopped a few feet away from the fountain then I watched her start to dissolve from her feet up into water molecules until she was completely gone. Her clothes and books dropped to the ground. Moments later a bald kid came running up. He saw the pile and swore, then turned and ran away.

My curiosity got the better of me. I spread into a larger shadow to see if I could find her. I did. She was floating around just above the pond, watching him go. I startled her so much she reformed naked a few feet above the water then fell in with a screech and a splash. I followed suit-without the screaming and splashing. She tumbled out of the fountain and grabbed her clothes.

"What the hell?!" She yelled at me. I shrugged.

"You might want to put your clothes back on. There's people coming." I told her. She glared at me but took my advice. She was just adjusting her jacket when the bald kid came running back, along with a two girls and another guy. I recognized the first girl as Kitty and the boy was the blonde that I had talked to a few days ago. I didn't know the girl with the white streak in her hair.

"What happened Nymph?" The bald guy asked.

"Nothing, Alex." She said, flicking her blue hair away from her face. I noticed that she was completely dry.

"We heard you scream." Kitty said. "Are you ok?"

"Yes. I just got startled, that's all. Now will you leave me alone?" Said Nymph impatiently. She moved closer to me. "We're trying to have a conversation here." The blonde raised his eyebrows.

"Ok, ok. We're going-wait, you're the new girl aren't you?" He said to me. I cocked my head at him and didn't reply. "Yeah! I remember you. You asked me what was going on the night that Amanda disappeared…right?"

"Yes."

"Cool. I'm Bobby by the way, and this is Rogue. I think you've met Kitty and Nymph. We call this guy the 8-Ball."

"Hi." Rogue said. I returned the greeting. Nymph cleared her throat impatiently. "Ok, we're going!" Rogue rolled her eyes and she, Bobby, and Kitty strode off, Kitty commenting about what a snob Nymph was. The bald guy…8-Ball, shoved his hands in his pockets, completely ignoring me. He was focused on the blue haired girl.

"Nymph, you know that I didn't meant it that way, right?" He said to her. She sniffed and crossed her arms, looking the other way. He moved closer to her while I moved away, prepared to disappear again. "Nymph, please." He turned her to face him. "You know that I had no choice. Plus you know that if you ask a question I have to answer. I can't lie. What I told you….was true." This statement only seemed to make her angrier. She turned her back on him. I could almost taste the denial coming off of her.

"Go away Alex." She growled. He put his hand on her shoulder. She shook it off. "I said go away." He flinched as if she had slapped him then finally turned around and walked away. She closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself then opened them again and looked at me. "Hi. I'm Nymph by the way."

"I know."

"Thanks for covering for me." She smiled. I hadn't really done anything but whatever.

"Yeah."

"What's your name?"

"Boy."

"Boy? What kind of name is that? You're a girl." She finally took in my appearance. "Though I can see that you're not trying very hard." I didn't know whether to take this as an insult or not. "Ugh. I'm sorry about that. Do you know why they call him 8-Ball?" She didn't wait for me to answer. "You can ask him a question about anything and he'll answer with the absolute truth. Even if you ask him about something that he shouldn't know. He just does. And you know, that's a pretty handy thing to have in a boyfriend, believe it or not, but then I asked him if he loved me. And you know what he said?"

"No." I guessed.

"No! He said no! I can't believe it! After all of the weeks that we've been dating he doesn't love me? I mean come on! You have no idea what I've done for that guy!" She flicked her hair and crossed her arms again, finally seeming to realize that I was still there. "You need new clothes. I've seen you around the halls and you always wear the same thing. Do you ever wash those?"

"Yes."

"Well, you need to go shopping anyway. Look, me and few friends are going shopping later on today, and since it's Friday we don't have to be back for a while. You're coming. I'll meet you by the doors at three ok?" I almost wanted to laugh. I'd never seen someone like this before. She was beautiful, vain, and demanding. I watched her bounce on the balls of her feet and flick her hair again, as if she were looking at a mirror. The name Nymph suited her.

"Ok." I said finally. She smiled as if she expected me to say that then waved goodbye and left. What the hell had I just gotten myself into?

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"Ohmygod! Are you serious? He really said no? Ohmygod!" The girl, Bubbles, blew a bubble out of her mouth and floated beside her, lighting the way to her car. There were a bunch of other giggling, primping, squealing, complaining, stick-figure girls here but she was the only one who's name that I remembered- just because her hair was platinum pink. I almost turned into a shadow and disappeared right then and there. If I heard another 'OHMIGOD!' then I was going to seep into their mouths and noses and smother them to death. Fortunately, we made it to the mall before I went completely insane.

Once we were inside they turned into army captains and marched me to the nearest clothing store, pulling out at least 20 different outfits and then shoving me into a dressing room. I tried to remember why I agreed to do this but I couldn't. Sighing, I pulled off my clothes and started to try others on. The first one was a pair of jeans and a raspberry tank top with black lace on it. The neckline plunged to show a generous amount of cleavage. One of the girls jumped up and added a black pinstripe hat to the ensemble. I got a bunch of different stares and comments then was yelled at to go try the next one on.

We went through outfit after outfit, some going in the checkout pile, some going back on the rack. Eventually I had to put my foot down at a pink cotton candy tube top with a blue cotton candy miniskirt that Bubbles picked out. There was no way in hell that that was going to happen. After what seemed like days the mall finally announced that it was closing and we were forced to buy the clothes. Nymph paid for mine as well as her own, while the other girls waited in line to purchase their own various things. I saw a lot more lingerie then I wanted to. I have no idea how we got all of our stuff piled back into the car, but we somehow made it.

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Much to my annoyance, Nymph followed me to my room, sat on my bed, and watched me put everything away. The monster started nagging at me by the time I was finished. I turned to her. "Thanks for the clothes. I don't usually go shopping until mine are almost see-through."

"Yeah, no problem. You don't show a lot of emotion." She said quickly.

"I can't." I almost sighed.

"Oh, ok." To my relief, she stood up. "Hey…um, look, I could tell that you hated every minute of that." I blinked. Maybe she wasn't as fickle as I'd thought.

"It was that obvious?"

"Yes. I know that you wont want to do it again but…hey, what can you do?"

"About what?"

"No, what's your ability; your mutation." She giggled. The monster was now fighting harder than I would have liked to be free.

"I can manipulate shadow. I can become it, and make it dense, kind of like when a mutant does with water or fire or something like that. I can also change my shape." I backed up to the window.

"Oh, Cool. I can live in water and become it."

_Let me out. _

"Yeah. Um, look, you need to go, ok? Thanks again for the clothes but you need to leave. Now."

_LET ME OUT_. It slammed against my mental restraints. I pushed back just as hard.

"Yeah. Ok. It's late anyway. Goodnight, Boy."

"Night." To my relief she was out the door quickly. I didn't even bother to take my clothes off before I lost consciousness.

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"Mmm. Stop it." The poking only got more vigorous. "Hey, stop." Logan opened his eyes and almost fell out of bed. "Fuck!" He yelped.

_"Good evening, Logan." _The monster said. It was standing so close to him that he could smell the carrion on it's breath. It almost made him sick. He got up on the other side of the bed. _"Walk with me." _It turned and headed out the window onto the roof. He swallowed, really not wanting to, but, of course, he did anyway.

They walked in silence across the roof for a little while until it started to bother him. "So, uh, what did wake me up for?"

_"You never talked to the girl about her name."_

"No…I haven't seen her."

_"Have you tried to?"_

"…No."

_"Then there's your problem. She went shopping with some of the students tonight. They bought clothes." _

"Um…ok. Isn't that what teenage girls are supposed to do?"

_"Not the girl. She was against it. Do you know why she decided to go?" _

"No?"

_"I made her. I just gave her a little push and that made her do what I wanted. This means that I am able to manipulate her when I feel the need. She may be the one who's out more, but I'm still stronger than her." _

"So is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Logan's feet were getting numb. He had no idea why this thing was choosing to talk to him.

_"I do not know. It certainly would seem like a good thing to me, but I can't say that it is. You have to understand that I am not the one who does most of the thinking when I'm not out. My thoughts are short, simple, and to the point."_

"……ok?"

_"It was never like that before we came here. I was just a…monster. A beast who only came out to feed. And now I find myself having complete thoughts, just because we're here. Can you tell me why, Logan?" _It stopped and looked at him. It towered a good two feet above his head.

"No. I'm sorry, I can't. But…" He couldn't believe that he was doing this. "I think I know someone who can."'

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And that is how Xavier's office came to house an 8 foot tall monster who wanted to know why it thought. Xavier himself was just amazed that he was seeing the other side of Boy. Logan left as soon as he felt like he could and left the two of them to talk.

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I woke up wrapped up in my comforter. I snuggled farther down under it and closed my eyes again_. You're failing_. I was too comfortable to be surprised.

_What?_

_You're failing_. The monster seemed…almost sad. _Do you know why you went shopping yesterday? _

_Because I had nothing better to do. _It occurred to me that any normal person would think that I was insane for having a conversation in my head. The monster shifted and shook it's head.

_No, because I made you_.

_Made me? _I almost laughed. _You don't have the power to make me do anything_.

_Yes, I do. And the fact that you went last night proves it. I gave you a little push_ _and made you decide to go without you even detecting it. _

_Riiight. Ok. Sure._ I thought sarcastically. _I'm trying to relax. Leave me alone. _

_You're failing. You don't know it but you are failing. One little bit at a time_.

I sat up angrily and closed my eyes, looking inward toward the monster until I was standing in front of it. _Enough! Either you tell me what the hell you're talking about _or _leave me the hell alone! _

It got up and approached me as far as it's restraints let it. _I'm talking about your spirit, girl. Your spirit is failing. Every time you give in to me a little piece of you dies_. _Because of this, your defenses are weaker, allowing me to control you more and more each day. _It stared at me with what might have been a forlorn expression if I didn't know better.

_No. I don't know what kind of shit you're trying to pull but it's not working. I am not failing, and you can't control me. My sprit is as strong as it was when I was a child_.

_It's not. You've been crippled by tragedy that you've buried so deep you've forgotten who you are. You don't even know what your name is. Or your age. Or who you were before you died. You are slowly dying and allowing me to take over_.

I didn't reply. There was no way that it was right….right? It was true, I really didn't know who I was. And I never really would have gone shopping…_Why are you telling me this? _

_Like you told Logan, we are two halves of a whole. We cannot exist without each other. If you die, then I die. _

_So, what? If I'm as damaged as you think I am, then what do you suppose I do about it, oh wise one? _I rubbed my head. Speaking face-to-face like that gave me a headache.

_That's another sign of your weakening state. You should be able to confront me without it physically harming you. _

_Would you just tell me what you plan on doing! _I snapped. I found that I was unable to talk to it face to face again, which only forced me to acknowledge even further that what it was saying might be true.

_I was listening closely when you were talking to him to Logan-_

_Surprise, surprise_.

_Listen! I was particularly interested when he suggested that we join together_. …I saw where this was going.

_No. No way. I am not joining minds with you._

_It's the only way. You must_.

_No. _

_If you don't you'll die! _

"I said no!"

"Jeez, you didn't even let me ask." I jumped and pulled the comforter closer around me. Nymph gave me an odd look then giggled. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"What? No. I haven't. I just…never mind. What did you want?"

"Well, I know that you really hated shopping but…do you want to go out for coffee?"

"Coffee? Why?" I looked around for my clothes. They weren't there. Where did they go? Nymph crossed her arms and leaned against the wall and shrugged.

"I don't know. Just because." _Feel like making me do this? _I said mockingly to the monster. It growled at me. _Come on, here's your chance. Make me do it_.

_Don't push me, girl. _

"Um, look, Nymph, I really appreciate you buying me these clothes and all but-"

"Oh come on Boy! Please?"

"Why?"

"Um….Just come with me, ok?" I don't know if it was her pleading gaze or the monster, but I agreed to go.

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We ended up sitting in a little café, both drinking cappuccinos. I waited for her to talk first. There was no way that I could be failing. I felt fine. I actually felt better than when I had back at the Witch's place. It might have been due to the fact that I was among my own kind, but it didn't change the fact that I felt more alive here.

"Boy?"

"Yes?"

"Come with me. I want to show you something." She suddenly smelled very nervous-like she was doing something that she didn't want to. She stood up and waited for me. I took my time, suddenly wary.

"What do you want to show me?" I asked her when we got outside.

"Just follow me." Nymph swallowed then we got into her car and started driving. We drove for a long time. She started talking after a while. I listened and occasionally put in my own thoughts. She parked her car in one of those giant public parking garages and got out. "I'm going to go into the air ok?"

"I'll follow you."

"Yeah…" She disappeared into the air. I picked up her clothes and put them into my hoodie pocket and locked the car before following her. We flew together through the air for miles before we finally came together again on a cliff. I held out her clothes and turned my back while she got dressed again. The monster was suddenly on alert, therefore I was. "Boy?" Her voice shook. I turned around.

"What?"

"I'm so sorry."

"Wh-" A bolt of electricity came out of nowhere and hit me dead on. I screamed in pain, trying to turn into a shadow. I couldn't. The monster roared and fought to be free. Another bolt hit me. I screamed again, unable to see anything but white streaks in front of my eyes.

"Don't kill it!" I heard a voice yell.

_Let me out girl!_ The monster strained and fought. I tried to answer it but couldn't. I was being struck over and over by electricity.

My body was being destroyed.

If felt my skin crack all over. I screamed in pain again, trying to loose consciousness, but I couldn't. The electricity was entering and leaving my makeshift body through the cracks, tearing me apart even further.

My last thought before I blew apart was a memory. A memory of being unable to breathe and scratching at the hands that were clamped around my throat. Then I died for the second time.

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A/N: I have no idea why I like to kill of my main characters. But don't despair quite yet.


	8. Shade

Disclaimer: Blagadoush. (That's an actual food)

A/N: Well, this is the last chapter that I'm going to post today, mainly because ch.9 is still being written and I'm sick of proofreading. Don't forget to review with chapter titles and whatever else.

**Chapter Eight**

The monster liked it's wounds and searched for what had to be the hundredth time for it's other half. There was still no sign of her. She couldn't be dead, because then it would be dead too. She had to be there somewhere, but where? It gave up the search again and went back to regenerating and healing. _You stupid, stupid girl. _

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Alex cleared his throat and looked uncomfortably from Professor Monroe to Professor Logan. His discomfort was due mostly to the fact that he was extremely attracted to the former and deeply afraid of the latter. Xavier and a few other professors came in.

"Ok, Alex, just relax. This'll only take a moment." Professor Monroe said.

"Yeah. I know." He took a deep breath and relaxed his body completely, clearing his mind. When his eyes opened, he only saw black. "Ask." He said in a toneless voice.

"Alex, what happened to Nymph and Boy?" The voice was just that-a voice. It had no gender or tone change to him. Images flashed in front of his eyes.

He was standing on a cliff watching Boy screaming and being ripped apart by repeated attacks with lightning, and Nymph just stood there, hugging herself and crying. She couldn't look away but she didn't want to watch anymore. Alex turned to face a boy who was directing the attacks. He stood next to a tall old man wearing a helmet. Boy gave one last scream and exploded. The pieces of her body flew apart then were sucked back together again.

Nymph screamed with her then disappeared. In Boy's place was the monster. It wasted no time in going after the boy and the man. It succeeded in ripping the boy into pieces but the man escaped by flying up to a waiting helicopter and speeding away. It would have gone after him had it not been crippled by the loss of its other half. It turned and fled the scene.

Nymph, meanwhile, had made it back to her car and was speeding back to the mansion. She made it there and went straight to her room, locking herself in and then collapsing in a fit of tears on the floor.

The entire time he observed this Alex was telling it all in detail to the current occupants of the room. Logan finally stopped him but he stayed in the trance, going back to the blackness. "Ask." He said again.

"Where is Boy now?" There was no image, just blackness. "Alex, where is Boy?"

"Boy is nowhere." He finally said in the same toneless voice.

"You mean…she's dead?"

"Boy is nowhere." Alex repeated. For their sake he tried to look deeper but the blackness remained. "Ask."

"Oh my god. He killed her?!"

"He never said that. He just said that she was nowhere. Alex, listen closely, where is the monster? Where is the thing that attacked the man and the boy?"

The blackness cleared to reveal the monster lying in a cave, chewing on something that looked like a torso. It was still in the cliffs. Alex prepared to come out of the trance but another question was asked, keeping him there.

"What is the monster's name?"

"It has no name."

"What was Boy's name."

"Boy is nowhere."

"That's not what I-"

"Logan, he can't answer questions about someone who virtually doesn't exist anymore."

"Yeah…ok. We're done Alex. You can go." The blackness cleared and Alex blinked a few times to get used to the light. He hopped off of the table and left the teachers to talk.

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The monster looked back at the giant flying piece of metal hurtling toward it. It leapt across a gap between cliffs and continued running. With an odd whooshing sound the blue creature…Nightcrawler appeared running beside it. He soon found that he couldn't keep up so he resorted to teleporting every few feet, talking in between the times he disappeared and reappeared. "Let us…take you….back…to the school." The monster slowed down to his pace. It had been heading back there anyway.Nightcrawler touched it briefly then they appeared on the jet.

Unfortunately, they had both been running to fast and weren't able to stop, even when the got onto the jet. Both of them flew straight toward the windshield, and both of them disappeared and reappeared away from it; Nightcrawler in his seat and the monster laying like a sphinx on the floor.

Logan got up from the co-pilot's seat and sat down in front of it. "Is she dead?" He asked.

_"If she was, then I would be too."_

"So where is she?"

_"I'm guessing deep down inside me somewhere."_

"Will she come back?" Asked Storm. She had put the jet on autopilot and swiveled her chair around. The monster did something that resembled a sigh but sounded more like a long, rattling breath.

_"I believe that the correct question would be, _can _she come back. She was weak enough as it is, she may not have the strength to make a new body." _It paused, as if unsure. It's next words were halting. _"It…is possible that she may not come back at all. When I try to search for her I can't feel her. The only indication that she's still alive is that I am. Other than that…"_

"She is nowhere." Kurt said mournfully. The monster nodded.

_"Logan._"

"Yeah." Logan looked up from his hands. He was trying very hard not to get too pissed of. Eric Lansherr had done this. Magneto was going to pay. He unclenched his hands from around his knees and laid them flat.

_"You never asked her name."_

"I know."

_"It was Kyle." _The monster closed it's eyes, hiding any indication of even having them. Upon closer inspection, Logan saw that there were small cracks all over it's body that were oozing a kind of thick black liquid.

"Those cracks-"

_"Are the same cracks that appeared on her body before it was destroyed. They do not hurt, nor do I feel them. They are just there."_

"We saw what happened to her." Logan could tell that Storm was trying not to be to uncomfortable around the monster on the floor. For some reason it put out vibes that put everyone on edge. "Xavier couldn't find her or Nymph through Cerebro so we asked Alex."

_"8-Ball."_

"Yeah. 8-Ball. He told us everything. Xavier looked into his mind and saw it too. You killed the kid that destroyed Boy but you didn't go after Magneto."

_"I told you her name, Wolverine. Use it. As much as it irritates me to admit it, I was to weak. I was ripped into existence from the depths of a dying girl's mind. I…I'm not entirely sure if this is true, but I believe me overpowering her at the last minute and revealing myself may have been what destroyed her so quickly. But, then again, that might have been the merciful thing to do."_

"So…if her name is Kyle, then what is yours?" Kurt asked.

_"I do not have one."_

"Then we need to give you one. If you're going to stay with us then we can't just call you 'the monster' all the time."

_"They called me Skadu in Africa. In Italy they called me either Ombra or Monstro. The first two were simply meaning shadow. The other meant monster."_

"You've been to Africa and Italy?" Kurt leaned forward intently.

_"I traveled the world while Kyle was making her body. I had nothing better to do."_

"Are there any other places that you went?" Asked Logan.

_"Several. And all either called me beast, shadow, or monster. Take your pick."_

"Uh…isn't there anything else? Like a real name? Didn't Bo-er-Kyle call you anything."

_"Monster."_

"Oh."

_"May I suggest one?"_

"Of course!" Kurt exclaimed. "It's your name."

_"Shade."_

"A shade could be a shadow or a spirit." Explained Kurt. "They were known as the dead that inhabited Hades."

"That's very…morbid." Logan said slowly.

_"To most people it would seem so."_

"Then Shade it is." Said Storm.

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Nymph gasped and put her hand to her cheek where Alex had just struck her. He crossed his arms. She flinched at the movement.

"Alex, please. She was dangerous! Eric said that he would-"

"Oh, so you're on a first name basis with the enemy huh? Did you sleep with him too?"

"What?!"

"Well, you two seem so close. I can only assume-" He side-stepped her attack. "What're you going to do, Nymph? Kill me too? He laughed and looked out her bedroom window. He had gone straight to her room after the professors were done with him and found her curled up on the floor. "You made a big mistake." He snarled at her. She flinched again. "Professor Xavier would never bring in a mutant if it was really that dangerous. Do you really have that little faith in his ability to protect us? Or, better yet, in our ability to protect ourselves?" She opened her mouth but no sound came out. "She's not completely dead, you know."

Alex approached her from behind and moved her hair out of the way to whisper in her ear. "That monster inside her still lived. And guess what, Nymph? You killed it's other half. Did you see what happened to the boy?" Numbly, Nymph shook her head. "You'd better pray that your little water tricks can save you, because it'll rip you to pieces." He laughed coldly in her ear when she shivered. "You should have just stayed away, Nymph. Now there's no escape, murderer." Alex turned and left, leaving her standing there, hugging herself and shivering.

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"Shade, no!" Logan jumped in front of it. "Xavier will take care of her!" Shade snarled and knocked him to the side and kept going.

_"I appreciate Xavier's willingness to help, but she tried to destroy us. She cannot live."_

"She didn't know what she was doing!" Logan ran after it yelling. It was starting to draw attention. "She had no idea that Magneto was going to-"

_"She still brought her there!" _Shade roared, and knocked him out of it's way again. _"She still betrayed her trust. Kyle's blood is on her hands!"_ It finally got tired of the mutants getting in it's way and disappeared into the shadows.

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Nymph heard the roar and dissipated into the air just as the monster go there. She watched it sniff around her room and flick it's ears. Alex came in behind it. It leapt around. He put up his hands. "I wont do anything." He said cautiously. She silently cursed him. "Just please don't kill her. She doesn't deserve to die." The monster nodded impatiently as if it already knew that, then it too disappeared. Seconds later Nymph felt a horrid sensation go through her. She tried to reform and run but couldn't move. It was eating her alive, she realized.

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Alex passed Xavier and Professor Summers speeding down the hall. Xavier caught his eye and in that one second, he knew that he was in trouble. He kept walking.

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Logan, Storm, and Kurt were already there. There was no sign of Nymph what so ever. "What did you do?" Xavier breathed.

_"I ate her." _Shade said simply. It was laying on her bed and, oddly enough, reading a book. It turned a page and continued reading as if this was completely ordinary.

"Why did you do that?"

_"I know that you are not an unintelligent man, Xavier. You know why."_

"You should have let me deal with her!"

_"Why, so that you can give her a slap on the wrist? No, I don't think so. I take care of my own problems. And if it's any consolation to you, or any of you for that matter, she tasted a lot like watermelon."_

"It's not you sick bastard!" Scott snarled. Shade put a claw on the book to mark her page and met his eyes. He took an involuntary step backward.

_"You humans can never understand the true laws of life." _It said, getting up. Everyone moved out of it's way, except for Xavier. _"I understand that it's your nature to see this as an act of cruelty, but it is also your nature to forget. I suggest you do that."_ It walked through Xavier. He turned around.

"Where are you going?"

_"To get some real food."_

"Shade." Xavier called. It ignored him and left.

"Do you want me to go after it?" Scott suggested.

"And do what?" Logan raised his eyebrows. "Those little laser beams can't hurt it."

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Alex was grounded for a month; confined to his room and not allowed to do anything but go to class then come back to his room. It still didn't stop him from telling everyone what happened.

A/N: Ah, sweet revenge. Review. Duh.

A/N: Sweet revenge! Bwahahaaa!!! Review. (cough)


	9. It's a good thing, alrght?

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, Theresa, Basil, or Chris. Theresa and Chris belong to Twi and Basil belongs to Jack.

A/N: Yeah. Nothing much really happens in this chapter that huge and exciting. I'm going through a bit of a dryspell. Oh, and yes, I did intentionally star caller Shade 'she'

Note To Twilight L. Xari: I couldn't resist putting the bombing and the Christmas thing in there. Thanks for Julian's name.

**Chapter Nine**

Months went by and the students eventually became used to the black monstrosity that walked the halls and the grounds. Some of them even got up the courage to talk to it. Nymph was the first and last student that it killed. When it hunted, it would go out into the forest and kill wild game, not people.

Months went by, and Kyle did not reappear. Neither did Magneto.

Things happened, one incident involved a church bombing a building full of mutants. Shade resisted the urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. It knew enough to realize that a church bombing a building in the name of its god just about made it a cult. The disaster passed, the wounded mutants left one by one as they healed, and things quieted down again.

After that Christmas time came. Normally Kyle would by eggnog and spike it with a little bit of spiced rum and sit on a bridge for two days. It didn't take a genius to know that this was pathetically sad, as one perky girl told Shade one day. She was jumping up on the walls and putting up lights with the help of some others. One of which it recognized as the short-haired girl who was relaying the conversation downstairs to everyone else that night the girl ran away. It decided to go out into the garden which was unnaturally warm for this time of year.

Christmas morning came with a lot of screaming kids climbing over each other to get presents. After they settled down the older kids dove in, only slightly less disorganized. One of the teachers got a puppy. Shade stayed in Kyle's room to avoid getting into people's way.

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"Shade?" The boy outside the door smelled as nervous as he sounded. Shade came out from underneath the covers and answered the door.

_"Yes?"_

"Uh, um." The kid couldn't have been older than Kyle. The sight of it seemed to make him forget what he was there for.

_"Did you need something or are you here to stare at me?"_ The kid detected the slight humorous edge in it's voice.

"Oh. Yeah. Um, Professor Logan sent me to get you. He says that it's important."

_"Alright."_ The kid jumped when Shade just disappeared. He tried to peek through the door but it slammed in his face. He turned and almost ran.

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Shade found Logan crouched on a rock next to a stream surrounded by students. It plopped down next to him and drank a little from the stream, positioning itself in it's usual sphinx pose. The students went back to their sketch pads. It noticed right off that they were looking at it, and not the scenery around it. _"You called?"_ It said.

"Yeah. Do me a favor and just hold really still ok?"

_"Why, exactly?"_

"Because you make a good art subject. Don't move."

_"Logan, I really don't-"_

"Shhh!" Logan got off his rock and sat in the middle of the u-shape that the students had made. "Make sure that you use one focal point. Don't over do it on the background because it takes away from the subject." Some of the students nodded.

_"This is not amusing, Logan."_

"Your ruining their focus. Just hold still." Shade obeyed, much to his surprise. It didn't move at all, not even to blink. Any passerby would have sworn that the students were drawing a statue. It's eyes bored into Logan's but he ignored it and kept his mind on his drawing. "And just because it's a shadow doesn't mean you have to shade to much. Smudging goes a long way."

The sun started to go down and eventually Logan had to stop them due to lack of light. "We'll continue this tomorrow. Head back to the classroom and put your drawings in your folders before you head to dinner." He stood up and the students followed a path back to the school.

_"So now I'm an art subject?"_

"Uh, yeah. Just about. Come on, Shade. You and I both know that you weren't doing anything but brooding on Kyle's bed."

_"I wasn't brooding. I'm not used to having so much free time."_

"Wow. Do I hear you getting defensive?"

_"What? No."_

"You are! Shade, I don't think you've noticed this but you're becoming more human." Shade stopped and glared at him. "I rest my case." He muttered.

_"It's impossible for me to be human."_ It caught up to him.

"Have you heard yourself talk lately? You're sounding more and more like Kyle every day."

_"I am?"_

"Yeah. You are." Strom came up beside Logan and he laced his fingers with hers. Shade raised non-existent eyebrows.

_"When did that happen?"_

"See? You're even getting nosy. Do you remember what Xavier said to you a couple of weeks ago?"

_"That Kyle may come back through me?"_

"Yes. He's right, Shade. She is coming back through you."

_"I don't feel her there."_

"That's probably because you two aren't separate anymore." Logan guessed. "You don't feel her because you are her. And She's you…er, however you're supposed to say that."

_"I don't think-"_

"Try to talk like her." Storm suggested.

_"What do you mean."_

"Try to imitate her voice. I really can't make it any clearer than that." She said with a little laugh. They had stopped walking. The mansion was in full view, looking large and domineering against the fading sun.

"Like this?" Shade said. Logan jumped a little.

"See? You sound just like her." Storm patted him on the arm. Shade didn't say anything, just sat there. "We'll leave you to think about it." The couple walked off, hand in hand, toward the mansion.

"Kyle…" Shade said. "I sound like Kyle. I think like Kyle. I even feel what Kyle did. So why do I still feel like I'm missing my other half?"

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"It's called mourning, Shade." Said Xavier with obvious amusement. "You're sad. And probably a little depressed."

"Depressed…"

"Yes. I can't really explain it further to you because it's different for everyone, but it's a very human feeling. You still feel that way because you've lost someone that you felt deeply for. Possibly loved."

"Loved?"

"Yes."

"Loved."

"Yes." Xavier chuckled. "Loved. And I said possibly. Maybe back then you were incapable of the feeling, but now you're remembering things and realizing that now you aren't. You took care of her"

"I sang her to sleep." She said more to herself than him.

"From what I gather, Logan's theory was right. Kyle is coming back through you, and you are now of one mind instead of two. You had a bond that was stronger than most. It wasn't just her strength that kept her from dying. It was yours too."

"So what exactly am I supposed to do?" Shade actually looked panicked.

"Do what you will. I can't decide that for you."

"Professor-"

"I have a class that will knock on my door in about five seconds."

"I really don't"

"Three."

"What-"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." Xavier said. Shade squeezed out between the hoard of students and started off down the hall. He was right she was feeling…a sort of heaviness in her chest. If it was sadness than she really didn't like it. The boy who had gotten her earlier accidentally bumped into her, making him drop a notebook.

"Sorry!" He squeaked. She surprised him by laughing.

"It's ok. It was my fault. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Uh…ok." He was so flustered he ran off without picking his notebook back up. Shade, cursing her curiosity, opened it up to peek at the first page. What she saw made her burst out laughing. They were comics of the X-Men doing various odd things. The funny part was that they were all caricatures. Her laughter subsided and she closed the notebook, picking it up in her mouth then following the kid's scent all the way back to the basketball court, where he had shed his shirt and was already in a heated game with a bunch of other guys. She sniffed around until she found his stuff and dropped the notebook on it. He leapt and knocked the ball out of another kid's hands and dribbled it down to the other side of the court, where she was sitting.

Shade temoporarily took my eyes off of him to look around at the spectators. Her eyes halted at a flash of platnum-pink hair. Bubbles. She locked gazes with her, clearly seeing the hate and agony there. She was forced to break eye-contact because the basketball came flying straight at her head.She leapt out of the way just in time-but crashed into the kid. He was hit so hard that he went flying sideways.

Shade reacted without thinking; running after him and swallowing him before he could slam into the school. She spat him out when they landed on the ground. He rolled over and blinked several times. "What the hell just happened?"

"Wolfy here just decided to use you as a baseball." They both looked around at the moody looking kid standing next to a short-haired girl with his arms crossed. She stiffled a giggle. A boy who looked like her landed near them and folded his wings.

"Have you seen Eve?" He asked them.

"She's on the pitchers mound." The moody kid pointed in the direction that we had just come. The winged kid glared at him.

"I'm serious, Basil. Have you seen her?" The girl stepped between them.

"No, Chris, we haven't seen her."

"She might be at the top of the Empire State building waiting for an energy boost." The moody kid-Basil came up behind her and gently removed a leaf from her hair. "Why dont you try looking for her instead of asking? Hey, you could even try playing airplane while she plays King Kong. Or maybe you'd be be better off playing the chick." The girl turned around and glared at him.

"You don't have to be so mean, Basil!" She frowned at him when he just shrugged and then turned back to Chris, who was looking extremely pissed off. "Try the Rec. Room. She might be there."

"Just because you're dating my sister doesn't mean that I wont kick your ass." He snarled, ignoring her. Basil laughed.

"Yeah, right. Then I can go back and kick yours twice as hard." They had both stepped forward and the only thing keeping them seperated was the girl. She swallowed, suddenly looking very uncomfortable squished between them. Chris spread his wings and took off, his wingtips barely clearing the top of Basil's head. Shade looked at the kid, and he looked at her. He stood up and dusted himself off.

"Are you ok Julian?" The girl asked him.

"Yeah, Theresa, I'm fine. I just...got bumped into." He looked at Shade oddly and dusted himself off again.

"I appologize." Shade told him. "I didn't realize that you were there."

"Oh, really? Are you sure that you weren't playing kickball?" Basil crossed his arms and glared at them.

"Well, now that I think about it, that was exactly my plan. I was watching him play basketball and I thought, Hmm why not switch games? Better yet, the players can be the ball!" She shot back just as sarcastically. He raised his eyebrows. There was an uncomfortable silence than Basil stalked off. Theresa stared after him then turned back to them. "What crawled up his ass and died?" Shade asked her, having no idea where any of this was coming from. She snorted and started to giggle.

"Um...he's always like that. He gets...uh, headaches."

"He's a time traveler." Julian pointed out. Theresa gave him a warning look but turned back to her.

"So...I'm Theresa."

"I got that."

"I'm Julian." Julian said.

"I got that too." Shade sat down and started to clean her claws. "I'm Shade."

"Cool name." Theresa commented.

"Thanks."

"So...um, I should probably go after Basil. By Julian."

"Bye." He answered.

"Bye Shade."

"Bye." Shade stood up and started to leave too.

"Hey!" Julian caught up to her.

"What?"

"Uh..." He blinked and looked down. "Nothing. Nice meeting you...you know, even under the circumstances."

"Yeah. Bye." She turned and loped away through the maze.

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The next day Logan found Shade and dragged her back out to the forest so that the kids could finish drawing her. She didn't protest this time, partially because she was listening to the quiet whispers about her and what had happened the previous day. It amused her that the story had gotten so twisted. Aparently she had come to the basketball to fight Julian and then tried to eat him. After that the valiant Theresa mind-controlled her and made her spit him out. Shade was so close to collapsing in a fit of laughter that it was almost unbearable. Some were saying that Theresa caught her boyfriend and her brother...being 'a little too friendly if you know what I mean' -as one girl whispered to her friend- and tried to get Shade to attack them. Logan got tired of hearing it eventually and said that if they didn't shut up then he'd give the entire class detention (in which one girl whispered that she wouldn't mind being stuck for in a room with him for an hour).

That did it. Shade started to laugh. The students and Logan all jumped when she burst out laughing and collapsed on the ground. She had no idea whether it was because of the nice weather or if she was just going insane, but she couldn't stop laughing. She rolled over onto her back as the laughter died away and stared up at the canopy, thinking that the sun shining through the leaves like that looked like almost like stars. "Shade?" Logan's face appeared above her.

"Hmm?"

"What the hell was that all about?"

"Logan, I really have no idea. I think I'm going crazy."

"Uh...do you mind getting back up so that the students can finish?"

"Nope." She wiggled onto her side, sighed, and then went pack to her sphynx-position. Where the hell had that come from? She never laughed. Kyle never laughed. She suddenly realized that she had a gender. Her emotions were so mixed and intertwined that she was starting to feel dizzy. Giddyness, sadness, fear, longing, passion, anger, frustration, confusion...she almost wanted to scream. It was too much. In a matter of months she had gone from an emotionless, simple beast to...to...a _human. _That's what it was. She was becoming more human. The thought sickened her. She was _not_ human. It was that simple...or was it? "Fuck." She muttered, causing the students to give her even more odd looks and whisper even more.

Once again, the sun went down and the students were told to pack it up and go eat. Logan stayed with Shade. "You wanna tell me what's gotten into you?" He said to her. She stood up and shook herself.

"I told you. I don't know. I can't explain it."

"Try." He crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. She sat down.

"I'm feeling...emotion."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No. It's not. I'm not supposed to be like this. There are two things that drove me: food and survivial. And now...now there's more to it. I don't know what, but there's more. I _eat_ humans. The last thing I want is to start behaving like one-which is exactly what I'm doing." Shade stood up and started to walk away from the mansion. Logan followed her. They walked together in silence for a long time with the sun sinking slowly at their backs until it was completely dark. Logan finally broke the silence.

"It's because of Kyle." He said finally. They stopped.

"You keep saying that to me."

"We'll, you said so yourself that she was deep down in you somewhere. Maybe she's not as deep as you think. Your emotions is coming from her. I don't know how many time I have to say that you two aren't of two different minds anymore. You're a teenager, Shade. Whether you like it or not, you're a teenager. All of the feelings that both of you supressed are coming back to bite you in the ass."

"That's reassuring."

"I know, but you're just going to have to deal with it. Open up to it."

"I don't want to."

"You're scared."

Shade whirled on him with a growl. "What did you just say to me?" Logan raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

"You heard me. It's perfectly understandable since you've never-"

"I am **not **afraid." She snarled so severly that Logan stepped back, suddenly remembering that even though she was behaving more human, that didn't necessarily mean that she was. He put up his hands defensively.

"I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, Shade, because it's not. Just...don't go crazy on me ok?" She snorted at him then calmed down a little. "There. Now look, everything that you're feeling is completely natural. It's a _good_ thing. Alright?" She snorted again but nodded. "I'm going to head back to the mansion. Storm'll be wondering where I am..." He turned and walked away. Shade watched him go then flopped down on the ground with a sigh. _Damn you, girl. _

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A/N: So yeah. This chapter was written mainly to explain Shade's coping skills. If I can get past my writers block then chapter ten will be a bit more exciting.


	10. Freya

Disclaimer: I dont own the name Freya. It acutally is the name of an Egyption goddess. You know the rest of this.

A/N: So yeah. I had to bang my head against a wall a copule of times to finally figure out something for this chaptr, but I go it. I feel special.

**Freya**

The next night found Shade hopping nimbly out of her window and jumping off of the roof. She decided to go out into the city and wander around, just for the sake of getting away from the school. She hadn't actually left in her own form at all since they had gotten there. She leapt over the gates and and stopped to test the air. Once she found a direction, she started to run.

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Julian climbed up over the gates after Shade and dropped down just in time for her to disappear into the night. He sighed and looked around, then put his finger to the air and started to draw. His result was a rocket-propelled snowboard looking thing. He strapped himself on then took off.

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Shade heard the noise that it made before she saw it. It pulled up beside her with Julian crouched down on it looking like he was having the time of his life. "What the hell are you doing?" She yelled at him. He motioned for her to slow down until they were going at a trot.

"So. Do you always sneak off the grounds for field trips in the middle of the night?" He grinned. She wasn't amused. This little 'field trip' was for her to get some air and clear her mind; she didn't want some annoying awkward boy with a knack for art following her around. "Hey, come on. You think that I could just let you go wander aimlessly around the city?"

"Yes. Go away Julian." Shade growled. He suddenly cut in front of her. She resisted the urge to take his head off right there and then.

"Just let me come with you." He pleaded.

"Why?!"

"Because...because..." He trailed off and frowned. "I just want to."

"That doesn't cut it." She started off again. Much to her annoyance, he followed. She stoppd and whirled on him. "I said go away Julian!"

"No!"

"Either you turn arund and go back right now or I'll-"

"What? Eat me? You and I both know that Xavier will have you head."

"Xavier couldn't catch me if he tried." She snarled impaitently she was loosing moonlight by sitting here and argueing with this idiot on a flying snowboard. Even though part of her said that she did, she didn't really want to hurt him. He was just in her. She sighed. "Look, you can come with me, but if you so much as say or do anything to stop what I do, then I _will_ eat you. Just because I seem more like a person doesn't mean I've forgotten how much I've grown to like the taste." She started running again and he took off beside her, not saying word.

They entered the city under the cover of shadow and decided to take the scenic route-that is, over the rooftops and on top of skyscrapers. Shade halted Julian when they were a few roofs away from the Empire State Building. "Why are we stopping?" He asked her. She didn't answer just walked to the very edge and stared down at the people who were walking around even at this late hour. While they had been roof-hopping it had occured to her that maybe, just maybe, she had Kyle's powers along with her own. If everyone really was right, and the girl was coming back through her, then wouldn't it make sense to have her power too? "Shade?" Julian hovered next to her.

"Shhh." She breathed. Kyle could manipulate the shadow to do anything it wanted, and that included moving people from one place to another. She relaxed and felt for the shadow around her, like the girl did. It took no more than a few seconds for the city to suddenly come alive in her brain. Images from everywhere suddenly cluttered up her head and forced her to recoil from them, breaking the bonds.

"Are you ok?" Said Julian with a slight tremor in his voice.

"I told you to be quiet." Shade growled back, already trying again. This time she forced every other image out of her head but the ones from the street below. She chose a kid who was clinging to his mother's hand and sucking on his thumb. The shadow oozed away from the streetlamp and wrapped around him him, flowing up the building and depostiting him next to Julian, who jumped and almost feel off his board. He unhooked himself from it and ran to the startled child. Meanwhile the mother was running around and yelling for her child. Shade leapt up and let out a howl that echoed eerily off the buildings and caused a ton of people to stop wha they were doing and stare up at the sky, all feeling the same chill up their spines.

"Shade! What the fuck?" Julian yelled at her. She stopped howling and leapt at him, knocking him onto his back and holding him down with a massive paw.

"I have her power, Julian. I can do anything I want because I have her _power_." She scraped her teeth lightly across his neck, feeling his heartbeat with her tounge.

"Get off." He rasped. She obyed, trotting over the the terrified child cowering agianst the floor.

"Do you hear your mother calling?" He was too scared to answer her. "Well, I do. I think it's time that you went back to her." The shadow took him back down to his now frantic mother and returned to it's post. Shade cut off the bond and sat down, grooming her paws proudly. Julain grabbed his board and sat on it while it hovered and stared at her.

"You're fucking insane." He muttered finally.

"Always have been." She grinned, displaying her pointed black teeth. "Do you know what this means, Julian?"

"That you need to be put away?"

"Nope, that maybe I can make a body for myself. This form may be what I'm used to but it's not suitable for day to day life. Espically for what I want to do."

"And what is it that you want to do?" Said Julain, really not wanting to know the answer.

"I want to sneak into Magneto's little circle of mutants and destroy every single one of them. Including him." Shade stood up and looked at the moon. "We have to hurry. I need you to go get some things for me..."

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Hours later Julian stepped away from the red haired, pale skinned beauty in front of him and sat down heavily on his board. The sun was already lightening the sky. Shade adjusted her shirt to show a little more clevage then looked at him with gold-speckled emerald eyes. "What do you think?" Her voice was soft and caressing, like a warm breeze.

He swallowed. "I-I think that we should be getting back to the mansion." He couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She was so beautiful. Her firery hair fell in ringlets down her back and made her skin glow. She laughed, a melodious noise.

"You're right, Julian. You're going to have to introduce your new girlfriend to everyone else."

"New...girlfriend? What?"

"Well, I need a cover, and the best way to get one is through you. I also need to change the appearance of my power..." She thought for a moment. "What do you think that it should be?" She adjusted her top again. It barely covered her torso and her jeans were low-cut, barely concealing black lacy underwear. She changed it to split at the top to reveal her clevage and her matching bra.

"I don't...know." Said Julian nervously. "So since you're going to be my girlfriend and new to the mansion, where are you going to stay?"

"In my room of course."

"But then they'll know that you're you."

"No, they won't you're going to tell them that Shade left and told you to give her room to me, since I'm moving in."

"Are you sure that they'll-" She silenced him with a kiss.

"Dont worry about it, Julian. You're good-looking enough for it to be convincing enough. Now, what should my power be? I can do anything with shadow but..." She held up a hand and a flame jumped up from her palm. "Fire is the closest. We'll have to do with that." She smiled at the gawking boy and patted him on the cheek. "We should get going."

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They made it back to the mansion just as everyone was waking up. Julian dropped Shade off at her window then went to his own room to shower and change. His roomate bombarded him with questions as soon as he got through the window. "Dude! Where the hell were you last night? You ditched me and the guys."

"I had to meet someone." He muttered, taking off his shirt. His roomate waggled his eyebrows suggestively

"A chick?"

"Yeah." Julian forced himself to grin.

"Dude! Details!"

"Dude!" Julian mocked. "I like totally got together with this hot chick, bro."

"Haha." His roomate said uninthusiastically. "Seriously, what happened?"

"We met at a club, had a few drinks and then..."

"Did you.." He stuck a finger into his fist and moved it back and forth. Julian chucked his shirt at him.

"No."

"Oh come on! Is she hot?"

"Yeah..." _Dangerously._ He thought. Her beauty was the kind that could make a guy go crazy wanting her. "She's perfect."

"What's her name?"

"Freya." Said Julian before he went into the bathroom. "Her name is Freya." Shade had chosen the name herslef. Aparently Freya was the Norse goddesss of beauty, love and destiny. He quietly thought that she should have picked something more dangerous, like Keket, one of the goddesses of darkness but she had laughed his idea away with her bell-like voice.

_"No." _She told him. _"Freya is the goddess of beauty and destiny. It is her name that I will take on." _

_"You don't even look Egyption!" He had argued. She smiled that perfect smile._

_"So? You're not Greek yet you carry a Greek name. Stop talking and hurry up."_

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Julian waved away more of his roomate's questions and met Shade in her room. She was looking through her closet with interest when he found her. "Are you ready to go?" He said. She put a slender hand on her hip. He noticed that shehad changed her outfit and added a few accessories. He found himself staring at her, all thought of backing out completely gone. She now wore black pants and a red satin corset top complete with rubies and obsidian stones at her ears, neck, fingers, and wrists. She flicked her hair back and fixed her dark makeup a little before turning to him.

"What do you think?" She asked him with a little dance.

"You look very...edgy."

She grinned. That's the point. Come on." She laced her fingers with his and the exited the room hand in hand.

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A/N: I just realized that my character has MPD(multiple personality disorder) I mean, first Kyle and the Monster, then Shade, and now Freya. Oh, and just a heads up about Freya: yes, she is a hoebag. I'll tell you that right now. Shade is gone for the next few chapters. The only similarity that you'll see between them is the coldness and the cruelty.

A/N#2: Here's a link to the pic of the corset top if you ladies would like to see it.(copy and paste) If there's a lot of spelling mistakes I appologize. I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't go over this chapter. Sorry!


	11. Phase One

Dislclaimer: I dont own the X-Men. (Whatever)

A/N: I made a mistake in my disclaimer for the previous chapter: Freya _is_ Norse, not Egyption. I appologize for the mix up.

**Chapter Eleven**

Xavier was slightly distraught when he heard that Shade had left but accepted it nonetheless. Julian called up the image of Shade telling him that she was leaving and that Freya could have her things and did his best to look sad. It worked. Freya, on the other hand, stood off to the side and just watched them with gold-flecked green eyes. Xavier got around to greeting her and was polite enough, though it was obvious that he had some misgivings about her. She was gracious, elegant, and none of her brilliant smiles met her eyes. Despite her aparent niceness there was a slight air of hostility. After that Julian ushered her out to 'show her around.'

"That was a hell of a meeting." He muttered once they were heading down the stairs. Freya giggled.

"Well, it worked didn't it?" She put an arm around his. "I'm a hell of an actress don't you think? Of course, I have to eventually start to cause a little trouble-" Julian stopped her.

"What? Hold on, why would you do that? I thought that you were just going to seek out Magneto and worm your way in there?"

"Hmm? Oh, I will. But I need to do more than that? He has to see me as useful, not just some girl hoping to get in with the 'bad' crowd'. I need to make an impression-both here and there." She forced him to keep walking. "Why are you suddenly so concerned? You were a lot less whiny when you agreed to help." She suddenly pulled him into an empty classroom and slammed him up against the wall with a lot more strength than she should have.

He blinked rapidly to try and clear the spots that suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. She pulled him back then slammed him against the wall once more. This time he blacked out. She was standing over him with her hands on her hips when he woke up again on the floor. She knelt down next to him and ran a black fingernail across his cheek. "Julain, Julain." She said, barely moving her crimson lips. "You're having second thoughts." He groaned. She shushed him and her caressing went down to his throat. "You don't have second thoughts with me; you do what I say, when I say, understand?" Julian nodded slowly. "Good. Now get up, we have to get to class."

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The day went by slowly, and not once did Julian relax. He was fighting with himself over what to do. He knew that this was going to get a lot worse but he was unable to tear his gaze away from her. She put him in a trance that he was slowly becoming unable to fight. It got to the point where he couldn't even pay attention in class. Several teachers had to repeatedly make him listen. Freya just smiled her secret little smile and ignored the hoards of boys-and some girls-who were staring at her.

Finally the day ended and Julian followed her like a lost puppy back to her room. She shut the door behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him. He put his hesitantly around her waist. Her smell was intoxicating him. "I'm sorry about this morning." She said quietly. He nodded, not really knowing what he was agreeing to. "Do you forgive me?" He nodded again, and, before he could stop himself, kissed her. She kissed him back. They pulled apart several moments later.

"Please." He murmured, running his lips over her neck. She pushed him gently away with a little laugh.

"Go to sleep, Julian. You're going to have to get up early tomorrow." He stole one more kiss then slipped, disappointed, out the door. Freya listened to him go then went to her mirror and stared at her new face. Then she stripped and headed to the shower. Her day was far from over.

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Earlier that day she had sent a shadow to hack the main computers and found a few possible rendezvous points for Magneto's men. She left the mansion in a sexy little coctail dress and strappy red heels. There was no way that they would be able to miss her. She walked around the cars in the garage until she found a sporty Mustang. Perfect.

The club was the type of club that you could only find in New York. It was undergound, dark, and full of the type of people that you'd expect in an underground club at midnight. The bouncer let her in with little convincing needed. She descended the stairs and crossed around the edge of the club to the bar and ordered a Bloody Mary. There was actually blood in it. She held back a smile, downed it, and ordered another. There were three brothers specifically that she was looking for. All of them were cocky jackasses who had the same power to back it up. Jase, Tommy, and Evan, were their names. Aka Buzz, Bolt and Blast. Electricity was their power and all three of them had it, making them three times a stong as any one mutant.

Freya was there for quite some time before she was approached by a tall, blonde, muscular guy wearing a long black coat. "This seat taken, love?" He asked her. His accent was Irish. Even better. She crossed her legs in a fashion that she knew made them look a mile long. He noticed.

"No. Go ahead." She said, taking a sip of her drink. He ordered her another and something else for himself then held out his hand.

"I'm Evan." She shook it.

"Freya."

"Nice to meet you."

She smiled. "Likewise."

"I haven't seen you here before."

"I'm new." She finished off her drink then started on the one that he had ordered. She pretended not to notice that he was running his eyes over every inch of her body. The music changed to 'Living Dead Girl' by Rob Zombie. Without a word he stood up, she took his hand, and they headed to the dance floor.

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Freya was gone before he woke up the next morning. She made it back to the school just in time for everyone to get up for breakfast. While everyone was headed to the kitchen, she flitted back to her room, took a shower, and changed. After that she went with the stragglers and found Julian sitting with his roomate. His eyes clouded over when he saw her and he got a dopey grin on his face. "Hey." He said. "I missed you last night." She didn't touch the food.

"I had to take care of something." She snuggled up close to him and whispered in his ear: "Come with me." He dropped everything he was doing and the two of them left, both ignoring the questioning stares of the other mutants. They went out to the garden to the fountain where she had first met Nymph. He wrapped his arms around her.

"If you wanted to be alone we could've just gone to my room-" She pushed him away.

"Stop acting like an idiot. I want you to do something for me."

"I'll do anything for you, you know that." He kissed her. She allowed it for a couple of seconds before sitting him down on the fountain.

"I know you'll do anything for me. That's why you're my boyfriend. Now, listen up, and listen closely; you are going to hijack the jet for me and land it on the cliffs. Then you're going to create another one that looks just like it so that no one will know that it's gone until it's too late."

"Ok." He blinked several times, as if he couldn't quite figure something out. She sighed and put her hands on her hips.

"What?!"

"Why do you want me to do this?" His answer was a ringing slap on the face. He rubbed the spot as if she had kissed him. "Ok. I'll do it."

"Good. You're to do it at night when everyone's eating dinner. Their own noise will cover up the jet, and if anyone suspects something your little drawing will stop them. Get back to class." He kissed her hand before dashing off through the maze. She leaned on the fountan and stared at her reflection in the water.

For just a moment, a thin, dark skinned girl with dead eyes looked back at her. She blinked, then she was looking at herself again. _Odd._ She thought before heading back to the school.

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That night, Julian successfully took the Blackbird to the coordinates that Freya had passed him in class then took off back to the mansion on his board. After he had gone she flew it from the cliffs to the city and landed it on the roof of Evan's apartment building. Then she waited. It didn't take long for the brothers to appear. Evan skidded to a halt in front of the jet and his brothers almost crashed into him.

"Holy mother of Jesus Christ." Jase breathed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Aye." Tommy answered, approaching it carefully. "It's the Blackbird. Xavier's little airplane."

Evan held back. "If it's Xavier's plane then what the hell's it doing on our roof?" Freya chose that moment to show herself. She slid off the roof and landed in front of them.

"Well, I thought that you'd like a little thank-you for buying me a drink last night." She smiled and winked at him. The two brothers swore and prepared to fight her but Evan stopped them.

"Oi! Simmer down you jackasses, she's harmless. Right?"

"Right." She leaned against the jet while they checked it out. After they made sure that there weren't any explosives or anything on it, they demanded to check inside. She let them. Evan stayed outside.

"So do you always repay favors with essential assets of known enemies?" He reached down and started to play with a strand of her hair. She looked down as if she was embarassed. He put a gentle finger under her chin and lifted her head. "Are you lookin' for trouble or what?"

"Acutally, I am." Her bluntess threw him off a bit.

"You are? Do you even know what or who you're dealing with girl?"

"Yes. Charles Xavier, co-founder of Xavier's School for the Gifted. And this is his jet, which I stole." Jase and Tommy came out of the jet and clapped Evan on the shoulders.

"It's a real beauty in there. We didn't find anything wrong with it at all. It looks like your little girlfriend here's telling the truth." Tommy said proudly.

"But," Jase held up three fingers and ticked them off as he talked. "What we want to know is why, how, and what-meaning why did you take it and bring it here, how did you get it, and what do you want for it." They all crossed their arms and looked at her. She smiled at them.

"Well, I took it because that old man needs to learn that he can't just do anything that he wants. I got it by pretending to be a willing student and, with the help of a friend, took out from under their noses, and what do I want for it? Well, I want revenge, that's what." The three brothers were seemed to be mulling it over. "Don't forget," Freya added. "This jet has a direct link to the school's computers."

"Alright. I'm going to make a few phone calls then we're going to go see a man. Stay there." Evan walked a little ways off, leaving his brothers to watch her. He came back a moment later and then they were on their way.

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A/N: So, yeah. That was Chapter 11. Review please


	12. Lost and Found

Disclaimer: You know.

A/N: Yes, I know, you thought I gave up on it. Well, truth is, I did. I lost it for a while, but I finally thought up the ending so here you go.

**Chapter Twelve**

Freya was brought by the brothers to a large metal fortress type thing that was placed up on a cliff in the middle of nowhere. She landed the jet next to a helicopter and was escorted to a big metal room with a metal desk and a metal chair in it. "Hell of a decorating job." She muttered. Her voice echoed creepily off the walls.

"It may not seem like much, my dear, but to me, it's very convienent." An old man wearing a grey body suit/cape thing that looked like it was straight off of the _Starship Enterprise _came out of a door. Freya fought not to attack him. A hot fury that she wasn't familiar with threatened to take over and ruin everything. She forced herself to stay outwardly cool and calm. "So, who might you be?" He waved a hand and his chair scraped backwards to let him sit. So...that probably meant that he could control metal. Freya crossed her arms and struck a pose that screamed 'attitude'

"You first." She said. He smiled at her with amusement.

"Alright, you're the guest. My name is Eric Lansherr, but my friends here call me Magneto." Just then a woman who was completely blue and had auburnish hair walked in and sat on his desk. She stared at her. Freya stared back. "Well," Magneto said, looking up at her. "Most of them do." The blue woman crossed her legs in a very seductive manner. "So, are you going to tell me your name or are you and Mystique going to stare at each other all night?" Mystique smiled a little. Freya put a hand on her hip and returned the smile.

"You can call me Freya."

"Ah! Yes. The Norse goddess of beauty and love. Interesting name. Yes, very interesting. So, Ms. Freya, what brings you here to my humble abode? It must be important, for you to have arrived here in such an...interesting manner." He steepled his fingers. Mystique's stare was starting to get on her nerves. She resisted the urge to light her hair on fire.

"That jet belonged to Charles Xavier and his little hound dogs. I brought it to your boys' attention here because I knew that it would get me to you." Sometimes you could tell the truth and still mean something completely different. It all depends on how you say it. Magneto nodded to Evan, Tommy and Jase and they turned and left. He then gestured for her to approach the desk. She did, completely ignoring Mystique. He stood up and motioned for her to follow. Freya sighed and tailed him through the door, some hallways, more doors, then out to the jet. Mystique padded silently behind them and started to inspect it once they got there. Freya found herself looking up at the sky while waiting. Some part of her felt that she could get lost in all those stars...

"It's definitely theirs." Mystique's odd voice broke Ferya's reverie. Magneto pulled his cape up and folded his arms with a grace and practiced formality.

"Well, this certainly is an interesting dish you've served us, my dear. Tell me, why the sudden interest in betraying your school? Don't you want the good guys to win?"

"Good, bad, whatever. It's not my problem. I don't care about your little war." Freya replied with an indifferent shrug. "I want something from you."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Julian closed his eyes and banged his head against his window. He knew that this wasn't going to work, he could feel it. Freya wasn't just going to see the cruelty of her plan. No, she was going to make their deaths long and slow, no matter what. He had to tell Xavier.

"Woah! Where's the fire?" Logan caught Julian by the arm as he tried to dash past him. "Hey, are you alright."

"P-Professor Logan...I need your help."

"Alright, alright, just calm down. What did you do?"

Minutes later, Julian was strapped in the back of the fake jet with Storm and Scott piloting and Wolverine and Kurt sittting in the next row of seats. Julian could feel the anger just resonating off of them, but he didn't care. Just as long as they got there before Freya did something that would completely destroy her. Despite her seeming lack of heart, Julian had seen something in Shade. Perhaps he could bring it back.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Magneto and Mystique stood side by side, like a king and queen. Sadly enough, Freya had seen odder couples. They were waiting for her to continue, but she was too buisy navigating the shadows around the lair and counting the other mutants who were there. Soon enough they'd all be dead, but she needed to make sure that she got all of them. "I'm afraid that we do not have all the time in the world for this negotiation. What do you want?" Magneto said. Freya put a finger to her lips and made a soft shushing noise.

"Can we go inside?" She said suddenly and innocently. "I'm a little chilly."

"Of course. Follow us." Freya did as she was told. She had the count, and the shadows were ready to strike. Once they got inside, she kept walking to the middle of the room and called fire to all exits. Mystique and Magneto jumped at the sudden roar of flames and looked at her.

"Do you know what you did?" Freya snarled. "You killed me." The excitement of finally being able to kill was making her loose her form, she could feel it. Freya was melting away, leaving something else. She rose into the air and the fire vanished, to be replaced by shadow. Magneto spread his arms and tried to create a doorway out. This entire place was made of medal. Freya-or what was Freya, wrapped he and his partner in shadow and started to squeeze. "_You killed me, and now I'm going to kill you._" Their screams made the creature shiver with delight, then sigh as both their lives were snuffed out. It absorbed the bodies, then, rising farther into the air, sent a call to the shadows to finish what it came here to do.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I can't believe this thing actually flies." Storm muttered.

"Just because I made it, doesn't mean it's not real." Replied Julian with a hint of resentment in his voice. He'd had to explain this a million times. "Of course it flies."

"Shut up kid." Said Wolverine. Julian closed his mouth with a snap.

"Look down there." Scott said. They all unbuckled their seat belts and went to the front.

"Holy shit." Julian breathed.

Ahead and below them, lay Magneto's lair. But there was one problem: there was black stuff oozing out of every crack and crevice on that cliff and seemed to be eating it away. The entire structure looked as if it was going to collapse. Julian closed his eyes and breathed deeply. It was Freya, or maybe not. If she'd gone back to shadow, then Freya was no more. Maybe Shade had resumed it's body. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, he had to find out. He carefully stepped back quietly to the back of the jet. The others were so intent on finding a place to land that they didn't notice what he was doing until the door was opened, and he was flying away. The last thing he saw before swooping low was Wolverine holding Kurt back.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

This was it. After this, there was nothing left. The creature sighed and curled into a ball, the shadow coming around it like a protective cocoon. The entire room had become something that resembled the nesting ground of a giant spider; the shadow was everywhere, oozing off the wall and ceiling and creating some sort of giant web that pulsed with every life that was taken. No one could run for very long, and no one escaped.

Freya was gone. Shade was gone. Kyle and Boy were gone. Now, there was just a consciousness who hungered for life but didn't know how to do get it back. It was just there, with all the shadow and pain of confusion and unfufillment. Life didn't seem to be an option any more. The consciousness sobbed, and it's shadow-hounds took up the agonizing call.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Julian heard them howl, and new that he had to get to go faster. He swooped down lower, just barely inches from the rolling darkness and looked for a way in. He spotted it within a few moments and flew in. It was completely dark inside so he drew a flashlight and turned it on. The blackness seemed to shrink away from both him and the light. Maybe it wasn't completely intent on destruction. "Shade?!" Julain called. "Shade! Come on. Where are you?" He walked down hallway after hallway, but no one answered his call. Sometimes snarls and screams would echo into his ears, making him jump and his heart beat faster. He never saw anyone though. Not a single soul. "SHADE?! Shade!" The tendrils of blackness were getting bigger as he walked. He even thought that he saw things moving inside them, but he dismissed it as a trick of his own fear.

Finally, the walls opened up, and Julian came to a large enclosure, which made him swear and drop his flashlight. The stuff had formed some sort of web, with a giant, inky black ball in the middle. He was too afraid to go forward, but he couldn't go back. The entire place was being eaten away and collapsing. So he picked up his flashlight and ventured forward.

_SQUELCH_

Julian leapt aside just in time to avoid the tentacle that would have taken his head off. It reared up and roared like something from a video game and came at him again. He ducked, rolled, and then jumped on top of it, a sword that shone with what seemed like the sun's brilliance in this dark place in his hand. Julian thrust it down into the monster and started to hack away as fast as his muscles would allow. The thing roared again and slammed both him and itself into the wall, making the room shudder and shift. "DIE!" He screamed, intensifying the light until it consumed the creature all together. He leapt onto his board and started to fly toward the center of the web, where the ball was. That thing had to be causing this.

Another sound like something was being ripped from it's very skin warned Julian of another oncoming enemy. This time it was a giant dog with a blade for a tail. "Fuck. It's like I'm stuck in a Greek legend." He panted, leaping aside to avoid that tail. He rose into the air above it's head and lengthened his sword, so that it was more of a whip. He brought his arm back and down in one fluid strike. The dog howled. The sound was agonizing. Julian dropped to his knees and covered his ears with a yelp. The dog's mouth was inches away from his face when he was able to look up again. It's breath stank of carrion. The whip was just out of reach...The dog growled and opened it's mouth wider to snap him up like kibble. He flattened himself and rolled under it's head to it's neck, grabbed the whip, made it into a sword, and cut for his life.

The dog's head came off with surprising ease, like whatever held it together decided that it didn't want to stick anymore. Julian grabbed his board and took to the air just in time to avoid being crushed. He stood there for a moment, watching it ooze away, when some of the blackness dripped down from the web and landed on his shoulder. He cried out in pain and almost fell. It was like someone had dropped a bucket of acid on him. The web seemed to be melting.

Julian was lost in a haze of pain for a moment, but fear kicked him back into focus, and he started to fly for his life. Some of the bigger drops he could avoid, but others still landed on him, each time more painful then the last. But he didn't stop. He had to get to that ball. Something deep inside him told him that whatever was in there could stop this.

After what seemed like a painful forever, he finally reached it. By then Julian was barely . He fell off his board into the blackness and passed out.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Logan opened his mouth and took a half step foward, but no sound was made and he didn't move otherwise. The entire cliff shuddered, then fell off the mountain into the sea. Julian hadn't come back out.

After things settled down to as safe level, Storm lowered the jet until they were within jumping distance of the water and started to use radar to try and find anything. They searched for a long time. Kurt teleported into the water and swam around, only coming back up for air. Logan joined him. The two of them both spotted it at the same time

Two forms on a piece of fallen rock. Logan took a hold of one, Kurt took the other, and they were all teleported back onto the jet. "Oh my god." Storm lea-pt from her seat and went to Julian's side. "He's not breathing. Scott, get the first aid kit." Then she proceeded to do CPR. Kurt put a hand on the other form. It was a girl. She had long black curly hair and a pleasant round face. She was breathing already so there was no need for CPR. Logan wondered if who it was. She couldn't be Kyle, they looked too different. The only similarity was their light brown skin. Julian coughed and flipped himself to vomit up sea water. He would have passed out in it if Scott hadn't caught him and eased him back onto the floor. He was covered with burns and cuts.

"Is he going to be ok?" Asked Logan.

"There's no way to know until we get back to school." Storm Replied.

A/N: Don't worry, I'm not done yet. There's still the epilogue. But yes, this is the end. Review and tell me what you thought please and thank you. I'll give you a bunny turd if you do smiles creepily Anyway, if there are mistakes, just bare with me. I'm on a time limit here.

Ok, right now there is a giant grey squirrel outside my window. Holy crap that thing is huge. Wow.


	13. Epilogue: We Know Each Other

Disclaimer: BLEH!!

A/N: So this is the Epilogue. It's not going to be very long because I have to take a shower in a bit. I'm sure you didn't need to know that. Anyway, here you go, the final part of Loosing.

**Epilogue**

Julian opened his eyes and was hit with the pain almost immediately. He cried out, then somehow it went away. He blacked out again.

The next time he came to consciousness, Julian didn't feel any pain. He was in the infirmary, and Storm was sitting in a chair next to his bed. He groaned and she looked up. "Well, look who's finally decided to wake up. How're you feeling?"

"Like you gave me morphine." He replied with a grin. She smiled. Then Julian remembered what happened. "Where is she?" He said. "Where's the girl?"

"She's ok-"

"I didn't ask if she was ok. Where is she?" He sat up and immediately regretted it when everything shifted. Somehow they were both standing up and he was in Storm's arms when his brain stopped moving.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy. She's right there, see?" Said Storm, pointing to the bed next to him. He pushed her away and stumbled to the girl' side. She looked so peaceful, lying there.

"Wake up." He said to her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. Brown eyes met his, making him smile. He took her hand. She blinked several times and took a deep breath.

"You saved me." She said in a small voice. His heart fluttered at the sound.

"I think we saved each other."

"I don't know who you are...do I?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Yeah." Julian tensed with pain. The morphine was wearing off. "You know who I am, and I know who you are, Kate."

A/N: IT'S FINALLY OVER!! You know, it took me a long time to think of the girl's true name. It was definitely going to be something very ordinary, so I chose Kate. As usual, review.

The squirrel is gone. I am sad.


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